A campaign tackling deliberate fires in Harworth this year has resulted in a sharp drop in the number of fires in the area.

In May this year it was raised by the local authority, District Prevention Officer Simon Cookson and crews that Harworth and Bircotes had a rising problem in deliberate fires.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service as a whole attended 170 secondary fires in May alone, with Harworth having the highest amount of deliberate fires in the county.

This was an alarming figure and led to the Service forming a partnership with Bassetlaw District Council and Nottinghamshire Police to tackle the issue at hand.

All three organisations came together forming a campaign to attempt to extinguish the harsh impacts of deliberate fires upon the Harworth community.

The campaign involved working with local media, circulating messages within the local area and campaigning digitally and relied on the collaborative work of all three partners to raise awareness about the seriousness of deliberate fires.

After implementing the campaign in Harworth deliberate fires are down to seven between the period of September to October compared to 15 in July and August when we first started to roll out the campaign.

Station Manager Stan Copson said: “This is a timely reminder to residents not only in Harworth but across the whole of Nottinghamshire that deliberate fires have significant impacts. Fires set purposefully can ruin the environment, cause breathing problems for locals and add unnecessary demand upon the Fire Service.

“Thanks to the hard work of each organisation we have managed to squash the amount of deliberate fire setting in the Harworth and Bircotes community. I hope that these figures remain low and we can continue to spread awareness of the dangers and impacts deliberate fire setting has upon the communities.”

Cllr Julie Leigh, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods at Bassetlaw District Council, said: “Over the summer we saw first-hand the negative effects that deliberate secondary fires can have on a community. So it is extremely encouraging that the Harworth and Bircotes community have taken these messages on board, in addition to those around fly-tipping and are helping to prevent the fuel for secondary fires being dumped in the first place.

“We hope that this downward trend can continue and that residents continue to be a positive force in tackling and preventing fly-tipping and secondary fires.”

Neil Bellamy, District Commander for Bassetlaw, said: “We’re glad to see a sharp fall in deliberate fires in the area and to be supporting our partners during this campaign.  

“People behind these incidents often think of it as a bit of a joke but they could very quickly become much more serious and can be detrimental to the landowners.  

“We won’t tolerate it in our area and will continue to keep raising awareness and keep an eye out for any further issues.”