Wrightstyle is a specialist steel and aluminium glazing company and supplies its fire-rated systems internationally. Jane Embury, the company’s marketing director, looks at the impact of arson. It’s a safety campaign that you may be unaware of, although it highlights a very real problem.
Arson Awareness Week (21 – 27 March) is designed to focus minds on a crime that deserves much greater attention. Because, according to the Arson Prevention Forum, some 70,000 fires are set deliberately every year in the UK. Nearly 50% of those fires are attended by the Fire Service, and the total cost of fire insurance claims stands at some £1b per year.
The Forum also points out that arson accounts for almost half of all fire and rescue call-outs, and that it can have the most appalling consequences. In 2014/15, 50 people died in fires that were started deliberately.
Arsonists tend to be young men – although they can be from any social background or age group, or either sex. The peak age for offending is between 14- and 16-years-old.
- JANE EMBURY, MARKETING DIRECTOR, WRIGHTSYLE
- International Security, Safety & Strategic Defence
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