Senior firefighter hails reduction in house fires and fatalities

The north’s most senior fire officer has hailed a dramatic fall in the number of house blazes this year.

Highland Local Senior Officer Scott Hay said the performance of his service in the most recent quarter had been “hugely encouraging”.

He revealed that the number of accidental house fires between July and the end of September fell from 70 in 2014 to 55 this year.

There were no fatal house fires in Highland, compared to one during the second quarter in 2014-15.

Mr Hay said: “The service is committed to maintaining this figure and eliminate all events and occurrences that result in a fatality.

“As identified, partnership working and data sharing supports this key aim and the delivery of targeted life safety advice and information.

“We will continue to deliver free home fire safety visits (HFSV) to advise and inform residents in the dangers of fire in the home.”

The number of deliberate fires was also down from 97 during the second quarter of 2014 to 73 for the same period this year.

There were also fewer false alarm calls with unwanted fire alarm signals (UFAS) down from 483 during the second quarter in 2014-15 to 447 this year.