Arsonists burn £14m of tax payers money

Rochdale Fire Brigade deal with fire at garages behind Woodstock Street

The fire service has forked out £14M to deal with arson attacks in Rochdale – in just one year.

Arsonists have struck the town 1,900 times in 12 months, according to damning new statistics revealed by Greater Manchester Fire Service. The figures show a particular problem between March 2007 and March 2008.

Deeplish, Falinge and Central Rochdale were highlighted as the worst hit.

Arsonists have targeted properties, vehicles, waste, moorland and skips, costing, on average, more than £7,600 a month.

Deputy borough commander Peter Stevenson said: "We do try to reduce incidents of deliberate fires in problem areas, including Milkstone, Deeplish Falinge and Central Rochdale. They are a costly headache. Obviously, we would like to see more improvements and we are working with partners.

"Ratepayers in Rochdale will be suffering from these costs, but we would like to see an increase in the number of people coming forward and helping in the problem areas. If there are a spate of fires in a problem area we will be pro-active and concentrate our efforts, we will report abandoned cars and fly-tipping.

"We have had incidents with repeated fire starters in particular areas – it’s not always a spontaneous act. At the moment there is a lot of regeneration in the borough and when properties are not secure and fenced off it allows access and creates mischief. As soon as the buildings are empty they should be secured at the earliest opportunity.

"We are spending resources dealing with deliberate acts, which is preventing us from dealing with priority cases, making us unavailable for more serious fires and putting people’s lives at risk."