Dunbar: Concerns about fires being set in Lochend Woods

At a meeting of the local authority’s police, fire and community safety scrutiny committee last Wednesday, Councillor Norman Hampshire raised concerns about recent incidents in woodland areas of Dunbar.

He said: “Deliberate fires have become a problem, the Dunbar area seems to have a real problem.

“In the middle of the town we’ve got a large woodland [Lochend Woods] and the young people tend to go into these woodlands for shelter; and when they’re cold, they start to have a small fire and that can become quite serious.

“I know the fire brigade have been there a lot and I know they have done some work at Dunbar Grammar School but is there anything else that can be done to discourage these young people from creating these fires?”

Mark Landels, area commander for East and Midlothian Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, said work was being done to engage with youngsters on the matter where possible, including at schools.

READ MORE: Dunbar: ‘Youths responsible for causing fires’

He said: “We would engage if there is anybody in attendance when we arrive at these fires, on the dangers and how a small fire can grow.

“We engage with the youths if they are there to try and limit them doing this in the future.

“We are visiting the schools and trying to get that message over.

“We also work with our colleagues in Police Scotland to try and identify areas where we can do a joint approach or speak with individuals if police are called and to try and hammer home that message not to start wilful fire raising.”

Concerns have been raised about fires in Lochend Woods in Dunbar. Image: Copyright Richard Webb and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Mr Hampshire said the council would help in whatever way it could to identify individuals starting fires and try and encourage them not to do so.

He said: “It’s about how we try and engage more with these young people because they’ve gone into this thinking that setting a fire up in a woodland is a safe thing to do; they just want to keep themselves warm, but that’s what causes the problem.

“If there’s any more we can do in partnership with [the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service] through our community wardens or protection officers to try and identify the individuals involved [then we will] and see if we can engage them in other activities and away from having these fires.”

Mr Landels said he would raise the concern with service liaison officer for the area.