A spike in the number of fires being set deliberately in Renfrewshire has forced the emergency services into action as staff tackle the worrying trend.
Fresh statistics for July to September show the number of intentional fires shot up by more than a quarter compared to the same period last year, with 152 recorded.
It was the highest number of incidents recorded during the period since 2018/19.
A similar rise was seen in April to June when compared to the spring months in 2020 which led to councillors on the police and fire scrutiny sub-committee raising concerns.
Paisley Northwest councillor Kenny MacLaren previously called for a longer-term strategy to be set out to deal with the problem.
In the latest meeting of the sub-committee, Scottish Fire and Rescue group manager Martin Hill said his team took action at hotspots over the summer and hopes there will be a reduction in incidents as a result.
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"As you would expect during the summer the bulk of the incidents were secondary fires and the bulk of those incidents were grass or outdoor," said Mr Hill.
"It’s largely a continuation of what we observed when we met last time.
"I examined this in a bit more detail. A small number of repeat locations were identified.
"A number of multi-agency interventions were put in place with a view to attempting to curb the trends.
"It was felt we probably did not want to bring certain areas, individuals and postcodes to this public meeting, suffice to say that I would be more than happy to update members separately.
"We would hope we are likely to see a reduction in those types of incidents in the months ahead because of the intervention but also the seasonal changes."
Secondary fires - which accounted for 82 per cent of incidents between July and September - are those which generally involve rubbish, grassland or derelict buildings where no one has been hurt.
The vast majority of incidents occurred in the wards of Houston, Crosslee and Linwood, Johnstone South and Elderslie and Paisley East and Central.
Other figures included in a report to the sub-committee showed accidental dwelling fires went up by 19 per cent during the three-month spell with 43 recorded compared to 36 the previous year.
Cooking was the most common reason behind the fires, accounting for 26 of the incidents.
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