Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is urging people to attend official bonfire and fireworks events this year.
Most injuries on or around November 5th occur as a result of people building their own bonfires and setting off their own fireworks. The message from firefighters is to go to an official display, which is much safer and always better value for money.
On Saturday, 3rd November, a Family Bonfire and Firework Night is being held at Alderley Edge Community Primary School and the Wilmslow Round Table Bonfire and Fireworks event will be held at Carnival Fields, Wilmslow.
On Sunday, 4th November, Alderley Edge Cricket Club are holding their annual fireworks event with children’s fun fair.
Further details of local displays are listed in our events calendar.
Colin Heyes, the Service’s Arson Reduction Officer, said: “This is not about us stopping people having fun – this is about us trying to keep people and property safe from the potentially devastating impact of fire. We want people to enjoy themselves over this time, but we want them to do it safely.”
In the run up to the bonfire weekend, the Service’s youth teams will be visiting schools to talk to young people about the dangers of building bonfires and setting off fireworks.
Over the bonfire weekend smaller fire engines, known as a Targeted Response Vehicles (TRVs), will be monitoring high risk areas to enable a quick response to small nuisance bonfires and act as a deterrent.
“A big problem during the run up to bonfire night is people building their own bonfires on stretches of public land – this could be in parks, on grass verges or even roundabouts,” added Colin.
“People can help us and themselves by reducing the opportunities for people to build bonfires and set other small deliberate fires. Make sure that wheelie bins are secured if possible and out of view.
“Dispose of any other rubbish you have properly. Do not leave it where anyone could use it as bonfire fuel, or even worse. Small fires adjacent to buildings often lead to much more serious fires which cause severe damage and put lives at risk.”
Cheshire Police have been distributing flyers to Cheshire residents, across schools and selected outlets in a bid to reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour, youth nuisance, criminal damage and illegal fires which traditionally rise at this time of the year.
Every year, Cheshire Police has to deal with a high number of calls relating to anti-social behaviour. For the Bonfire period last year, there were 767 anti-social behaviour calls, of which 113 involved alcohol and 244 came in via 999 calls.