Covid rules could have played a part in reduction of accidental fires in Clydesdale

Covid-19 restrictions may have been a factor in the reduction of accidental fires across Clydesdale.

Accidental house fires fell by two per cent to 44 last year while accidental building fires fell by 29 per cent to just 12.

Carluke and Lanark station commander George Kirkcaldy told the Clydesdale area committee on Tuesday, that this may have been down to the series of lockdowns imposed since March 2020.

He said: "Accidental dwelling fires - we've had a slight reduction.

"Other accidental fires had a drop of 29 per cent. That may be down to the fact that throughout the year, people have been in and out of workplaces.

"This does have an impact because the pandemic has caused us not to be at workplaces."

Throughout 2020-21, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service saw a reduction in activity in Clydesdale and Mr Kirkcaldy felt the pandemic may have attributed to it.

He added: "Bear in mind that the figures that are provided due to the pandemic they may be not as high as previous years. That is a positive.

"In the previous year we've had a 19 per cent decrease in deliberate primary fires.

"There has been a slight movement between the East/North and West/South but there is no pattern that is being highlighted.

The pandemic may have led to a reduction in fires (Daily Record)

"Deliberate secondary fires remained static. We did have a little issue with grass fires in the Abbeygreen Road area of Lesmahagow. They disappeared as the weather changed.

"The majority of incidents at the beginning of the year related to grass fires. It was quite a warm April/May last year so that increased the number of grassland and outdoor refuse fires that we had."

There were no fatalities as a result of fires in Clydesdale for the third year in a row.

However, nine people were injured as a result of fires in the region - a drop of one on 2019-20.

Mr Kirkcaldy said: "A lot of these incidents are caused by people being distracted. They are going in at a later stage finding that things have been burning away or cooking away and they have taken in a bit of smoke.

"They will then get seen by the Scottish Ambulance Service and taken to hospital."

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