Arson
Arson Control
In October 2000, the Arson Control Forum was established to foster partnerships between the Fire Service and other community organisations across the country to cut arson and make communities safer. The Forum comprises representatives from a wide range of parties, including HM Fire Inspectorate, the Fire Brigades Union, insurance industry, the Police Service, the CPS and the Forensic Science Services
The Home Office Arson Scoping Study, Safer Communities – Towards Effective Arson Control, which was published in May 1999, found that arson costs society around £1.3 billion a year, many agencies duplicated effort and wasted resources, and the number of arson fires had doubled over the previous decade.
The Study found that most successful strategies for dealing with arson are often found to be those that bring together all the key stakeholders within a community, working in partnership. There are many examples of partnership-working up and down the country that provide models of how arson can be tackled. One of the best known of these is the Arson Task Force based in the West End of Newcastle. The Scoping Study found that since the Task Force’s inception, the incidence of malicious property fires had fallen by 22.7% in the Task force area (12.9% over the brigade area as a whole).
While the New Projects Initiative, being managed by the Forum, encourages communities to learn from the experience of the West End Task Force, it is recognised that each area has its own particular problems. Brigades will therefore need to develop their own strategies for reducing arson. The aim of the New Projects Initiative is to encourage the establishment of multi-agency partnerships to address the problem of arson on a local basis by facilitating and funding new community-based projects designed to address arson at its root cause.
On 1st February, Chief Fire Officers in England and Wales were invited to submit bids by 31st March 2001. By the closing date for the exercise, a total of forty-four bids were received from forty-five fire brigades, totaling £1.6 million. The original budget set aside for this exercise was £800,000 but because of the high quality of the bids received, the Forum agreed to increase the budget to £1 million. The supported projects range from those that have been successful elsewhere, such as the establishment of an arson task force to others that concentrate on particular issues such as arson in schools, vehicle arson or developments of community based solutions. The focus of all these fire brigade-led projects has been partnership, either with the police, social services, the local authorities, schools and a range of others.
The bids received were remarkable for their quality and the breadth of the projects proposed. A special team was set up by the Forum to evaluate the bids, comprising colleagues with particular experience in bid evaluation, accountancy and procurement skills. The team carefully considered all the bids and agreed to wholly or part fund twenty-five of the forty-four applications received, amounting to just under £1 million. The grants for arson reduction initiatives cover a wide geographical spread from Wales to Kent, and from the southwest to the northeast of England. The projects also range widely in terms of their target areas, from the inner cities to rural areas, where the problem of arson is often greater than people realise. However, all the bids that were successful met the following criteria:
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They showed a good understanding of the scale of the arson problem in their area;
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They proposed a solution which was geared to addressing the problem they had described;
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They demonstrated links with the local crime and disorder partnerships;
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They specified how the project would be managed;
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They specified how they would manage success; and
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They demonstrated that the project would provide value for money.
The attached table gives a brief description of the successful projects. It is the intention of the Forum that as part of the agreement to underwrite the projects, it will receive progress reports from the brigades so that it may disseminate examples of best practice to other interested parties. In order to assist in this process the Forum’s New Projects Group will be working in close conjunction with the Forum’s Intervention Sub Group’s team, which will produce the appropriate guidance.
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Projects supported by the Arson Control Forum |
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Brigade |
Description of project |
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Avon |
Vehicle arson reduction scheme: Working with local agencies to ensure that abandoned cars are removed quickly, thereby reducing the opportunity for vehicles to be torched. |
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Bucks |
Vehicle arson reduction scheme: Working with local agencies in a part of the brigade area to ensure that abandoned cars are removed quickly, thereby reducing the opportunity for vehicles to be torched. |
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Cheshire |
Support to police involvement in arson reduction |
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Cornwall/Devon |
Arson Task Force: inspired by the successful work of the Newcastle Arson Task Force, which reduced the incidence of arson in property by 23% in the Task Force Area, 13% over the brigade area as a whole. |
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Cumbria |
Arson audit scheme: risk analysis of vulnerable areas and provision of advice and support to potential victims. Focussing upon rural areas. |
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Derbyshire |
Arson Reduction Co-ordinator: To work with agencies and support programmes to reduce arson. |
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Dorset |
Arson Reduction Strategy: Establishment of arson task force combined with reduction programme based upon trend and geographical analysis. |
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East Sussex |
Youth diversion scheme: offering young people from disadvantaged area the opportunity for a positive direction for their energy |
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Hampshire |
Collaborative data sharing project |
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Kent |
Vehicle arson reduction scheme: Extension of scheme based upon media based education and working with local agencies to ensure vehicles are removed rapidly. |
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Lancashire |
Arson Task Force: inspired by the successful work of the Newcastle Arson Task Force, which reduced the incidence of arson in property by 23% in the Task Force Area, 13% over the brigade area as a whole. |
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Leicestershire |
Arson Task Force: inspired by the successful work of the Newcastle Arson Task Force, which reduced the incidence of arson in property by 23% in the Task Force Area, 13% over the brigade area as a whole. |
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Lincolnshire |
Provision of IT system to support arson reduction |
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London |
Arson Task Force: inspired by the successful work of the Newcastle Arson Task Force, which reduced the incidence of arson in property by 23% in the Task Force Area, 13% over the brigade area as a whole. |
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Luton & Beds |
Arson Task Force: inspired by the successful work of the Newcastle Arson Task Force, which reduced the incidence of arson in property by 23% in the Task Force Area, 13% over the brigade area as a whole. |
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Merseyside |
Young Offenders Project: Working with young arsonists to enable them to address their offending behaviour. |
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Mid & West Wales |
Arson Task Force: inspired by the successful work of the Newcastle Arson Task Force, which reduced the incidence of arson in property by 23% in the Task Force Area, 13% over the brigade area as a whole. Covers all the Welsh brigades. |
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North Yorks |
Arson Task Force: inspired by the successful work of the Newcastle Arson Task Force, which reduced the incidence of arson in property by 23% in the Task Force Area, 13% over the brigade area as a whole. |
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Northumberland |
Arson Reduction Co-ordinator: To work with agencies and support programmes to reduce arson. |
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Shropshire |
Arson Task Force: inspired by the successful work of the Newcastle Arson Task Force, which reduced the incidence of arson in property by 23% in the Task Force Area, 13% over the brigade area as a whole. |
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Suffolk |
Provision of IT system to support arson reduction |
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Tyne and Wear |
Arson Problem Solving Model Project: innovative approach to developing community partnerships to tackle specific arson problems based on trend analysis and a geographic information system. |
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West Midlands |
Hydrocarbon detector dog: Provision of an accelerant detector dog to assist with arson investigation. |
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West Yorks |
Schools arson audit: Identifying those schools most at risk of arson, conducting a risk analysis, making recommendations to reduce that risk and providing support. |
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Wiltshire |
Rural arson awareness scheme: Programme to raise awareness and provide support to rural communities in reducing arson. |
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Northampton |
Arson play: innovative approach to educating children about the dangers and effect of deliberate fire play. |
Last update: 30 March 2004