A HUGE amount of the arson incidents that took place in Bradford in recent months have involved waste and fly tipping being set alight.

A new report by West Yorkshire Fire Authority includes details of the work of the force in over the past six months - a period where Covid has seen massive changes to how public services run.

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown has led to some understandable drops in incidents the service has been called out to in Bradford, such as the amount of car crashes crews are called out to to provide support (47 between April and September, compared to 60 in the same period in 2019), there are rises in other areas.

Fire crews were called out to 1,014 “secondary arsons” between April and October, up from 988 the same time last year. This was despite the fact that for much of this period people were advised not to leave their homes except for essential trips.

Secondary arson is a term for when waste, vegetation or grassland, but not a building or vehicle, is set on fire.

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A report going to West Yorkshire Fire Authority’s Community Safety Committee on Friday tells members that three quarters of these secondary arsons involved people setting fire to fly tipping or waste.

It says: “We are still not seeing the reduction in these types of incidents we had hoped for.

“Due to the Covid19 lockdown, establishments such as schools, household waste sites were closed as a temporary measure. This was also coupled with unusually hot weather during April and May which saw deliberate/grassland increase.

“As a direct result, we feel this has had a significant impact on Secondary arson incidents. The breakdown of the overall figure shows that three quarters of the reported fires were recorded as refuse/fly tipping.

“In order to try and combat the growth in this area – operational fire crews have conducted Environmental visual audits to identify potential fire risks and fly tipping sites we have been able to quickly report any fly tipping to the local council and have found it a successful and efficient way of communicating, providing a quick removal and reducing the risk of fire.”

Home related arsons dropped from 40 to 24, and non-domestic building fires fell from 48 to 41.

The report points to a serial arsonist behind the higher number of arsons last year.

It says: “The latter part of the financial year saw a rise in arson in a specific area of Bradford where there were repeat arson incidents. Working with West Yorkshire Police and the local housing team, fire crews were able to target the area by gathering evidence in order to prosecute the offender. Using our intelligence and reporting mechanisms, crews were able to identify the regular caller of these incidents and work with the police in finding the perpetrator. A criminal conviction has now been made which has already had a positive impact on incidents in that particular area.”