Fire crews across Shropshire are today celebrating another successful safety campaign running up to bonfire night.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service has run a campaign, with the help of both police and local authorities, to reduce the number of uncontrolled bonfires over the past four years.
“For the two weeks running up to bonfire night firefighters, police and waste management teams have been scouring parts of the county for inappropriately sited bonfires which were then removed by council staff,” said Martin Timmis, Head of Prevention and Protection at the county’s fire and rescue service.
Several community bonfires were allowed following consultation between partners and the community.
Last night (Monday 5th November) fire crews were called to deal with 28 bonfires with most of them left unsupervised in the evening after being lit earlier in the day. Fire crews put out some of the fires to ensure public safety particularly in areas where the fire may have caused nuisance to nearby properties, said Mr Timmis.
“I’d particularly like to pay tribute to the young people of Shropshire who co-operated with firefighters sent to deal with potentially unsafe bonfires. So far as we know, there have been no reports of people being injured as a result of bonfires in our county.
“This is an excellent measure of the success of our joint initiative with local policing teams and council waste managers.”
