A fire service chief has warned attacks on firefighters during Bonfire season will not be tolerated, saying the abuse experienced last year “beggars belief” .
Assistant chief officer (ACO) Lewis Ramsay hit out after crews were targeted on November 5 — the service’s busiest night of the year.
Staff even needed police protection when attending to unorganised bonfires in Edinburgh.
Days before the celebrations this year Mr Ramsay said any repeat attacks could inhibit firefighters’ ability to save lives.
He said: “It beggars belief when I hear that they have either been physically assaulted or verbally abused when trying to assist their communities.
“But be left in absolutely no doubt that it is often down to a very small minority of individuals within those communities.
“I would like to take this opportunity to stress once again that this will not be tolerated because our firefighters absolutely do not deserve to be met with such behaviour.”
Latest stats from 20016/2017 show 61 firefighters were involved in incidents where they were physically or verbally abused or had objects thrown at the fire engines — causing injuries to seven staff.
Mr Ramsay said criminal action would be taken extremely seriously and vowed to work with police partners to ensure those responsible are identified and held to account.
He added: “Attacks on emergency responders are completely unacceptable and I am sure the public would be outraged by incidents where their firefighters have been targeted while working to protect people and property.
“This type of behaviour not only prevents our crews from bringing any emergency to a safe and swift conclusion but it can impact on our emergency service colleagues including the police when they have to escort us at the scene.
“This cannot be condoned.
“The communities of Scotland are all fantastic and they appreciate greatly the work of the fire service, and we would urge the majority of law abiding residents to alert the police to any such reckless activity.
“We will also work to identify those responsible and we will pass that intelligence to our police partners which can result in a variety of consequences – and potentially affect future employment prospects.”
