House fire deaths in Dundee have increased over the past year, according to statistics from Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
A report to the Community Safety and Public Protection Committee on Monday showed that in 2020-21, there had been three deaths due to accidental dwelling fires.
This was an increase of three from the previous year, when zero deaths were recorded.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have also seen a 38% increase in deliberate primary fires, from 52 in 2019-20 to 72 in 2020-21.
Secondary fires had also increased from 391 to 576.
Data from the SFRS showed that there had also been an increase in dwelling fires.
In 2020-21, there had been 186 recorded dwelling fires, up from 175 in 2019-20. Statistics showed that 35% of the fires were cooking related incidents.
While fatal road casualties remained the same year-on-year with one death, non-fatal casualties were down significantly, from 24 to seven, a reduction of 66%.
Deliberate Fires
Group commander Graham Smart told the committee: “There has been an increase in deliberate fires – an increase of 20 alone in this quarter, which is quite significant.
“We’ve also had three fatal accidental fire deaths over the last 12 months.
“We spent quite a lot of time on these from an agency perspective and there was a bit of a trend in all three deaths.
“The fatal casualties were all elderly persons, and hospital discharge process is also something we’ve been looking at.
“It’s been an unusual year with the global impact of Covid and that is had a baring on it.
“There was significant home care packages in place for each of these people. There are definitely opportunities for learning.”
Baillie Helen Wright asked about a report which said there had been some success going to parents of children who had been caught setting deliberate fires.
Police Scotland’s Chief Inspector Ross Fitzgerald said: “We have had a mostly positive response from parents.
“In a lot of cases they were unaware that their kids were involved in these behaviours and were grateful to us for bringing it to their attention.
“A small number of cases there was a less robust response that required a more formal process to be put in place. But generally has been positive.”