Fire Service spending 40% of budget tackling arson
Monday, 7 July 2008
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The Northern Ireland Fire Service is being forced to spend 40% of its £77m annual budget tackling fires started deliberately, it was revealed today.
Arsonists lit 14,000 malicious blazes in the region last year, according to the latest government figures.
The cost of tackling those fires was just under £31m.
Almost £150m worth of resources has been deployed to fight more than 70,000 non-accidental fires over the last five years.
The statistics were disclosed to DUP Assembly member Simon Hamilton in response to a written question to Stormont Health Minister Michael McGimpsey.
"It is staggering that as much as 40% of the entire current expenditure budget allocation of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is lost in a year because of the need for fire fighters to tackle malicious incidents," said the Strangford MLA.
"Malicious incidents including deliberately started fires are an unfortunate fact of life. Barely a day will go by without news reports of a maliciously started fire somewhere in Northern Ireland.
"But that 40p in every taxpayer pound allocated to the Fire Service is being consumed by the need to address the activities of a malevolent minority is shocking in the extreme.
"In total, over the course of the last five years, nearly £150m has been spent on malicious fire incidents."
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