Fire chief blasts adults leaving online comments 'making light of deliberate fires set by youngsters' in Fife

Youngsters seeking ‘notoriety’ by causing fires are not being helped by adults making light of their actions on social media.

That’s the view of Dunfermline Station Commander Craig Robertson who described online comments on social media as “alarming” while providing an update to members of Fife Council’s South and West Fife area committee.

A total of 75 deliberate fires were recorded in South West Fife in the last year and the figure is expected to rise next year with a recent spate of call outs.

Raising his concerns at the rise, Rosyth councillor Brian Goodall fears youngsters are seeking attention from their actions.

“There is almost an element of copycat and people seeking notoriety on notorious social media pages,” he said.

“We should not be giving that kind of publicity for these incidents. Promoting an incident is not necessarily a positive thing if it can lead to copy cats of people feeling they have generated a feeling of notoriety for setting a fire.”

Station Commander Robertson expressed frustration at the recent trend.

“That will be more prevalent in next year’s report,” he said. “We have seen a huge increase but I would have to tip my hat to Police Scotland colleagues because they are asking us for any intelligence we had that could lead to a conviction.

“What alarmed me about what you are talking about is adults on these social media platforms encouraging young people because that is what kids did in the 80s and 90s.

“It was who could build the biggest fire and get the most fire engines out. It was bigged-up by adults who said ‘yes we used to do that’.

“If they know how our resources are so tied up, I don’t get my head round it. We are trying our hardest to get into schools and get that squashed.”

A report to councillors revealed that the number of accidental dwelling fires rose to 15 from 11 last year with cooking identified as the primary cause.

The number of fire casualties rose by two – to four – in the area and there were no fire fatalities.

Road traffic collisions went up from 14 to 27 last year and two fatalities were recorded.

Station commander Robertson said work is ongoing to try and reduce such tragedies.

“SFRS have carried out several Road Safety initiatives over the last year and continue to support partners to educate and inform drivers and continue to seek avenues to work in partnership to make our roads safer,” he said.

“This is not always reflected in operational activity presented, due to additional factors such as visitors to the area, that we are unable to benchmark.

“We do however work with colleagues throughout Scotland and the wider UK to share best practices and safety messaging in a bid to capture as many people as possible and improve road related behaviour.”