Metal thieves tamper with fire fighting equipment
It was claimed, within the last week, that a top fire marshall has been left extremely unhappy after metal thieves tampered with fire fighting equipment within a tower block in Aberdeen.
Garry Burnett, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service group commander for Aberdeen City, said the “reckless” actions of the vandals had endangered the lives of both his firefighters and local residents.
He said: “These thieves have put the safety of both the public and the safety of my firefighters at risk. Five dry riser outlets which allow us to connect our hoses on each floor had either been vandalised or the copper pipes had been stolen. It put the system, which goes from the ground floor to the 18th, totally out of operation because we need all the outlets in place.
“We were aware very quickly that those risers weren’t working and used mainly fire extinguishers and buckets of water and a poor jet from the dry riser system to tackle the fires.”
He said: “If the water was pouring out at the first and second floors you can imagine the type of flow we were getting at the 10th and 12th floors. These people who are either vandalising or stealing these outlets don’t seem to realise the risk to the people in that building and the risk to my staff.”
He said “there has been at least two previous incidents in the city within the past year and we are also aware of this happening in the Central Belt and in Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is sad that in the current financial climate people will go to that extent to get a few pennies for scrap metal.”
A spokesman for the Grampian Division of Police Scotland said that emergency services had been called to Kings Court at 4.15am this morning after an automatic fire alarm had activated at the multi-storey flats at Kings Court..
He said: “Five fire pumps attended, accompanied by units from Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service. Fires were found on the communal landings of the 10th and 12th floors on the north side of the building, which were quickly extinguished. No residents required to be evacuated and nobody required medical treatment.
