A SPATE of deliberate fires has drawn the ire of fire service personnel who say it is putting lives at risk.

At 6.24pm on Wednesday night Egremont Fire Station responded to yet another deliberate rubbish fire, this time in the town’s underpass.

It was one act of arson too far for watch manager David Mcdowell who said: “It’s stupidity and people not thinking about the consequences, of how it’s impacting on the fire service personnel.”

Mr Mcdowell added that the deliberate fire was situated near boulders which could have caused injury to firefighters.

He added that vandals are disrespecting the community by setting deliberate fires.

“People have got to go and clean all that up and get rid of the waste that’s left behind.”

Not only that, the fires are a danger to the public, Mr Mcdowell said: “They’re putting themselves at risk. The consequence is that they get injured, they could potentially kill themselves or burn themselves. That impacts on the family.”

Nuisance fires are an avoidable inconvenience for fire appliances.

“There could be a serious incident and the response time of that fire appliance is affected. It’s happening too many times and we’d just like the individuals to stop before they injure themselves or someone else.”

The watch manager expressed frustration back in July when two Firefighters Charity clothing bins were deliberately set alight.

Copeland Borough councillor for Egremont Michael McVeigh said: "It is becoming a regular occurrence. It is getting to be a concern for residents."

Although Egremont has seen frequent cases, He added that it is a systemic issue.

"It is becoming an increasing concern right through the borough." Mr McVeigh asked residents to contact police if they witness arson.