A Sheffield firefighter has condemned arsonists as dangerous timewasters after a string of fires.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has responded to five incidents in the last three nights. Time which could be spent on other duties.

Station Manager Steve Jones, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, said: “Once again our firefighters have attended several deliberate fires overnight. These incidents, whilst only looking small on the surface, potentially put people in danger. Not only do they tie up our fire crews, they can potentially spread and create a bigger and more serious fire,”

Firefighters from Parkway station were called out to a tree and rubbish fire over the weekend which had been started deliberately at 7:25pm on Beaver Hill Road, Sheffield.

The fire department were then called out again for a fire on Stradbroke Drive at 1:55 am. The crew from Parkway station attended a deliberate fire involving a van and rubbish.

Again, in the same night a wheelie bin was deliberately set on fire at 2:25am on Smelter Wood Road, Sheffield.

The following day firefighters from Rivelin station attended a deliberate rubbish fire at 7:25pm on Remington Road, Sheffield. Another rubbish related fire was attended by the firefighters from Central station as a wheelie bin was deliberately set on fire at 8pm on Wordsworth Drive, Sheffield.

Criminal damage and arson crime make up 8.9% of all crimes reported in the postcode area, with the total number of “criminal damage and arson crime” is 14.2k, however this number has decreased by 6.3% when compared year-over-year in the period of January 2020 – December 2020.

Annual crime rate in Sheffield postcode area is 10.7, i.e. 10.7 crimes reported per annum per 1000 workday people. Compared to the national crime rate, Sheffield’s crime rate is at 131%.