Out-of-control youths repeatedly starting fires in Wood End park to watch the chaos

[dutchman]

Emergency services called after spates of youngsters setting fires then watching as they get extinguished



Residents in Wood End say youths in the area are deliberately lighting grass fires then sitting and watching as the fire service come to extinguish them. There have been at least five fires on Moat House Park in a week, according to one resident.

It got so bad one day last week, there were several fires burning at once, and as firefighters and police worked to deal with it, those allegedly responsible sat and watched. According to fire service bosses, work is being done with West Midlands Police and Coventry City Council to try to deal with the issue.

A resident who witnessed some of the fires said: "The grass in Moat House Park has recently been cut from being very long, and as a result there are large piles of dry grass throughout the park. Youths seem to be using this to amuse themselves and setting fire to them.

"At least five times in the last week the fire brigade have had to come out and spend a significant amount of time extinguishing these fires. But they’ve been finding it difficult as they can’t get the truck in to the park so they have to run down alleyways with hoses and equipment to try to access the fires.

"Yesterday there were multiple areas alight at once - quite considerable size fires. The youths don’t seem fazed as they were sitting and watching fire crews put them out. Police were also in there, but it still happened again today.

"I’m concerned as not only is it a nuisance and filling nearby houses with smoke and the smell of burning, it’s causing a risk to the houses if the fire spreads. It’s also potentially harming wildlife and destroying the park, as well as taking fire crews out of action for other jobs that could be a lot more serious."

Paul Dunnell, Station Commander at Foleshill fire station, said: “Since mid-June we’ve been called a number of times to Moat House Park, off Deedmore Road, where a number of grassland fires have been started deliberately. Incidents like this place unnecessary demand on our fire control and firefighters, and potentially divert our crews from genuine emergencies.

“They also put our crews and members of the public at avoidable risk. We are working with the city council and local police officers to do what we can to resolve the issue.