Fire service praise Newcastle locals for Bonfire Night behaviour after dramatic drop in call-outs

The Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service has praised the general public in Newcastle for their behaviour on Bonfire Night last weekend.

Figures provided by the emergency services show a significant decrease in incidents compared to last year.

Those include an 11.8% decrease in the number of calls received and a 33% decrease in the number of Firework related primary fires.

The total number of incidents attended by the services also dropped from 462 to 435.

Despite a number of popular firework displays being cancelled for the second year running in 2021, such as at Saltwell Park and City Stadium, it was still a busy night in Newcastle as the Tyneside sky was peppered with fireworks.

Fire Service bosses have praised their Darker Nights Bonfire Night safety campaign and thanked the public, particularly parents and guardians, for passing on safety messages.

Richie Rickaby, Area Manager for Community Safety at Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Bonfire Night can be a very dangerous time of year and we would like to thank the people of Tyne and Wear for taking on board and appreciating our annual safety messages in the build-up to November the fifth.

"The resulting figures speak for themselves with the majority of areas falling significantly from last year.

“The success is down to partnership working with our blue light colleagues and other public sector organisations including local authorities.

"This saw effective community clean-ups across the whole of Tyne and Wear, where discarded objects were removed in advance of Bonfire Night, and schools across the region received online fire prevention packs to talk about in class.

"We hope this trend of care and awareness continues all year round as we still need to hit home that respect needs to be given to our emergency service crews and colleagues as they help serve the local community.”

Despite the reduction in figures, the service did still record six attacks on their crews across the Bonfire weekend.

Nobody was injured during the incidents, where missiles were thrown at the appliances, and enquiries to identify those responsible will continue alongside Northumbria Police.