WORK to prevent this year’s Bonfire Night season from resembling the chaos seen in past years has already begun.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is working to build good relationships with young people and communities in Bradford in a bid to reduce attacks on firefighters, nuisance fires and firework misuse.

But some councillors have questioned whether they are reaching the people they really need to speak to.

The debate began at a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Community Safety Committee last month when Scott Donegan, area manager for prevention and response, gave a presentation on work the service had recently done with Bradford College to engage with pupils.

He said it helped build relationships with young people in the city, adding: “We do have a high number of attacks on firefighters in Bradford, so early engagement with young people helps build relationships and tackle any issues before they happen.”

Recent Bonfire periods have seen spikes in arson and attacks on emergency service workers.

Councillor Riaz Ahmed (Lib Dem, Bradford Moor) said: “It is shameful when there are attacks on people trying to save lives.”

He said community leaders in his ward had been involved in trying to reduce such incidents, and it had led to a reduction in violence and attacks on emergency service workers in recent years.

Mr Donegan said there were two or three attacks on firefighters in the period around Bonfire Night, but that engagement with young people helped nip this problem in the bud.

He said: “We’ve started planning already for this year’s Bonfire Night.”

Cllr Ahmed said this engagement with the community did not take place in every ward in Bradford.

Councillor Mike Pollard (Cons, Baildon) referred to a project the fire service had undertaken in Wakefield in a bid to stop anti-social behaviour, suggesting it should be rolled out in areas like Bradford.

He said work to engage with communities and young people, like the Bradford College project, was focusing on people who were already willing to work with the emergency services.

Cllr Pollard added: “Are we speaking to the people we really need to speak to? You get the impression that the people we really need to speak to aren’t interested.”

Cllr Ahmed added: “I think working with college students might be too late – they are probably not the young people who are going to cause a problem. We need to work with children at a younger stage – talking to 15/16-year-olds is too late.

“If you’re going to change mindsets it has to be at a very early age.”