Brave West Lothian firefighters face attacks and vandalism every day

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A surge in deliberate fires and attacks on firefighters in West Lothian saw crews facing more than three incidents a day last year, it has emerged.The last year has seen more than 1,100 deliberate blazes started in the county.

Just over half of those fires were started in the Fauldhouse and Bathgate wards.At many incidents, fire crews have been met with verbal abuse and attacks while attending blazes.William Pollard, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service area commander for Falkirk and West Lothian told Councillors on the Community and Public Safety Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel: “Operational crews have been dealing with verbal abuse and missiles been thrown when responding to calls.

As a result, we have had to increase the level of attendance and request support from Police Scotland, whilst these measures support our crews it also ties up additional resources.“We are aware that it is youths throwing missiles at appliances and verbal abuse of crews.

Attacks on fire crews are taken very seriously, there is a thorough investigation both in terms of ensuring safety and welfare of crews and of working with partner agencies such as Police Scotland to identify.”Mr Pollard said in his report to the PDSP: “Deliberate fire setting is a significant problem for the SFRS and partners in West Lothian.