Moray Council: Deliberate fires double in Elgin
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Elgin has seen a steep increase in the numbers of fires being started on purpose.
Between last April and January they nearly doubled in the Elgin South ward from 12 to 23, compared to the same period the year before.
Meanwhile, in Elgin North the numbers rose from two to seven.
The issue of fires and their link to antisocial behaviour was discussed at the latest meeting of Moray Council's police and fire and rescue services committee.
Chay Ewing, local senior officer with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, said: "It was identified in Elgin town centre that there was an issue with bins."
He added that the risk had since been cut by working with Moray Council to reduce the amount of waste in the town centre, especially over weekends.
Mr Ewing added that his colleagues have also been visiting schools to talk to pupils as a preventative measure.
The figures mainly relate to less serious incidents involving wheelie bins, skips, waste storage areas and grassland.
While deliberate fires rose in Elgin, across Moray the overall numbers fell from 77 to 72.
The biggest drop – from 33 to 15 – was in Heldon and Laich.
There were also falls in Forres from nine to five, and in Fochabers/Lhanbryde from seven to three.
Smaller increases were recorded for Buckie where incidents went up from seven to nine.
In Keith they rose from four to six and in Speyside/Glenlivet from three to four.
In addition there were 22 more serious deliberate fire-raising incidents in Moray – up two from the previous reporting period.
That number has not been broken down into individual ward areas.
