Group Commander – Prevention, Protection & Preparedness
All children and young people have a fundamental right to be fully supported as they develop. Through the Scottish Government’s Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, public services are encouraged to work together in the delivery of services for children to promote, support and safeguard their wellbeing.
Fire-related antisocial behaviour (ASB) places a significant demand on the resources of the SFRS, other public services and communities. These acts include deliberate fire setting, malicious activation of fire alarm systems, hoax calls, hydrant abuse and attacks on personnel.
As part of a national policy, SFRS City of Glasgow Community Action Team (CAT) work in partnership to deliver Fire Safety Support and Education (FSSE). Through a programme of targeted interventions, FSSE offers a flexible approach to assist in the education of those aged 18 and under who demonstrate an unsafe or concerning interest in fire or fire-related anti-social behaviour.
Referrals for a young person to be included in the scheme may come from a range of sources, both internally which may include requests from interactions with operational crews, and externally from members of the public and other agencies including those within the justice system.
“Prevention is at the heart of everything we do as a Fire and Rescue Service as we seek to reduce the harm resulting from fire in our communities. As an anchor organisation, we have a responsibility to do what we can to also prevent our young people demonstrating behaviours that may harm themselves or others. The commitment of our local Community Action Team, FSSE procedures and related local initiatives have demonstrated that this is possible – but we can always do more!”
Initial assessments are conducted during an in-person visit, to ascertain if the young person has been merely curious and needs to be more aware of the inherent dangers or in the most extreme cases if the young person has a serious fascination with fire and follow up programmes of education and interaction are devised.
If it is further suspected, or practitioners become aware that referred young people are actively participating in fire related ASB within the community and aren’t engaging with local advice, SFRS have access to prison mentors who effectively share their own stories and lived experience from within the justice system focussing on the consequences of action and encouraging diversion from such activity.
When prison mentor sessions are arranged, SFRS and partners have taken the opportunity to invite other young people along who are at risk or have already been involved in other categories of ASB or criminality as advised by Campus Police Officers to ensure a wider reach is achieved during these extremely valuable insights.
SFRS have had 7 FSSE referrals this over the 2023-24 reporting year. These referrals are primarily developed via a partnership approach and a common understanding of objectives with organisations such as Police Scotland, Social Work, Criminal Justice Teams, HMP Barlinnie and HMP Castle Huntly.
Although the volume of young people identified and progressed through the scheme is relatively low, given the potential positive impacts for the young people affected, the SFRS hopes to broaden awareness of this approach both internally and externally to increase the scheme referrals.