Day of action to address community issues

The group in the park before the initiative began

Following an increase in attendances to nuisance and rubbish fires in the Stoneyfield Park, opposite Osborne Street Rochdale, Watch Commander Angus Robinson who is in charge of Blue Watch at Rochdale fire station decided that a mini day of action was needed to address some of the issues in the local community.

The fire service contacted partners from the Council’s environmental management department, local police community support officers, and Ghulam Rasul Shazad OBE who is chair of the BME fire association, and visited 300 properties in the surrounding area to offer advice to the residents.

Watch commander Robinson said: “This initiative has been a great success, every time a fire engine attends a deliberately started rubbish fire the cost to the economy is over £2500, and with the governments recently announced spending cuts to all our budgets we have to find a way to minimise these incidents.”

Community fire safety officer Mick Cryer said: “People have to remember fire engines cannot be in two places at once, and if we are attending avoidable fires such as these, a fire engine may not be available to attend an incident of a more serious nature, such as a house fire for example.”

Alan Bones from Rochdale Council’s environmental management department said: “All residents in Rochdale should take responsibility by minimising the risk of malicious fires by returning their wheelie bins back to their properties immediately after collection day. Residents should also report fly tipping to the councils contact centre on 0845 226 1800.”

Mr Cryer added: “We also picked up 15 requests for home fire risk assessments which the fire service offers householders free of charge.”

The group hope to run similar initiatives in the coming weeks in other parts of the town; working together to make Rochdale a cleaner and safer place for all.