South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is experiencing one of its busiest ever times during this year’s Easter school holidays.

From 1st April 2007 to April 10th inclusive, South Wales’ Firefighters have attended 901 grass fires. This is in addition to the 74 building fires and 93 special service calls including road traffic collision and other rescues.

Control room staff have dealt with 5448 calls from members of the public in just 10 days, with 3,251 of these being repeat calls about fires which have already been responded to.

However, this job can be extremely difficult and it must be clearly established between the caller and the operator that they are not calling to alert the Fire Service to a separate incident. This takes a great deal of time and patience for control room operators based at headquarters in Pontyclun.

Principal Fire Control Officer Jennie Griffiths, said the unprecedented work rate of her staff had been unfaltering, but it was a stressful time for both the control operators and the firefighters on the frontline.

She said, “Control staff have certainly felt the pressure of this significant increase in calls to the Fire Service. The operators need to be extremely thorough with every call, drawing the right information from the caller to establish whether they are calling about an incident that we are already on our way to deal with.”

“For every call about a grass fire which has been needlessly set by an inconsiderate individual there could be a person desperately trying to get out of a burning building in urgent need of our assistance. This is why we treat every call as seriously as the last, and when you’re dealing with over 500 per day, it takes it toll. The team have been extremely dedicated and should be commended for their quick thinking and call handling skills.”

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Kevin Barry said, “The pressure on our firefighters is immense, and we’re seeing a lot a fatigued crews coming off shift after hours of firefighting in difficult conditions. They are doing a tremendous job and are a credit to South Wales Fire and Rescue Service showing a patient, professional and persistent attitude when dealing with this almost endless stream of grass fires, most of which are unnecessary.“

Grass fires can cause extensive and irreparable damage to the environment and kill local wildlife. South Wales Fire And Rescue Service would urge people to stop setting them and putting lives at risk.

Of the 901 grass fires (1st – 10th April inclusive), 372 were in the Rhondda Cynon Taff area. The others were as follows:

Blaenau Gwent 82

Bridgend 81

Caerphilly 123

Cardiff 29

Merthyr 88

Monmouthshire 6

Newport 42

RCT 372

Torfaen 68

Vale of Glamorgan 10