Scotland firefighters attend over 350 fires on Bonfire Night 2019

Firefighters across Scotland dealt with more than 350 bonfires on their busiest night of the year.

Initial figures indicate that Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) crews had responded to approximately 359 bonfires across the country between 3.30 pm and 11.30 pm on Tuesday, November 5.

Meanwhile, Operations Control firefighters handled 882 calls from members of the public.

There were also several attacks on crews, but no firefighters were seriously injured.

SFRS had appealed to the public to choose to attend organised events rather than do-it-yourself fireworks displays or illegal bonfires.

Assistant Chief Officer John Dickie is the SFRS Director of Response and Resilience.

He said: “Bonfire Night is our busiest night of the year by far, and indeed it tops off one of our busiest four-week periods in the year.

“In addition to attending the numerous deliberate fires and bonfires, our firefighters continued to respond to the full range of emergencies we face day-to-day.

“Our frontline crews and Operations Control personnel and support staff have shown extreme dedication over this period and I would like to pay tribute to their professionalism, skill and hard work which enabled them to help protect communities.

“In addition, I must thank our partners and indeed communities across Scotland for their assistance and support.”

As well as attending an overall estimated total of 665 incidents over the course of the night, firefighters were also attacked a reported six times during the Bonfire Night time period.

He added: “Any number of attacks on emergency service responders is completely unacceptable.

“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.”