Hundreds more rubbish fires in Bradford as arson figures rise

The biggest rise was in arsons involving rubbish being set on fire, with hot spots for such incidents including Keighley, Eccleshill and the Tong ward.

Members of West Yorkshire Fire Authority will discuss the latest figures at a meeting on Friday, and members have been told that the Covid lockdown had a part to play in the rise of arson incidents.

A report to the Authority’s Community Safety Committee shows that arson has been on the rise in Bradford.

There have been 182 primary arsons, arson involving a building or car being set on fire deliberately, in Bradford so far since April.

This was up from 161 this time last year.

These included 33 dwelling arsons, 20 “non-domestic” arsons and 111 vehicle arsons.

Hotspots for primary arsons include Tong, Barkerend and Bowling, Bradford Moor and Eccleshill.

Arguably the worst spot for building arsons in Bradford is the derelict Yorkshire Martyrs School, next to Tong Leadership Academy.

The committee will hear that since 2016 the fire service has been called to the building 54 times.

This year the rise in “secondary arsons” – fires involving vegetation or rubbish, were much more dramatic.

High number of arson incidents in Bradford linked to deprivation - meeting told

This time last year there had been 933 such fires in Bradford district. So far since this April there has been 1,163.

Of these incidents 294 have involved vegetation – such as grassland being set on fire. But the majority, 833, involved rubbish being set alight.

The report identifies a number of areas where the service are repeatedly called to. These include Keighley Central, Tong ward, Barkerend and Bowling, Bradford Moor and Ec-cleshill ward.

It says: “Bradford district staff are working hard to re-establish effective working rela-tionships with partners which were stalled by Covid and further impacted by large changes in staff positions across most organisations.

“Staff are working collectively with partners to identify those area where incidents occur most frequent ensure derelict building are boarded, waste is cleared, and fly tipping where possible is prevented.

“Bonfire prevention and risk reduction work is well underway with Councillors briefed in August.

“This work will go a long way to reducing the number of arson incidents overall.”

“Staff are working collectively with partners to identify those area where incidents occur most frequent ensure derelict building are boarded, waste is cleared, and fly tipping where possible is prevented.”