CUMBRIA Fire and Rescue are working alongside police to put an end to a long spate of deliberately-set fires.

Fire crews were once again called to multiple fires over the weekend, extinguishing flames behind the Owl and Pussycat and in the rear bins outside Vue Cinema, both on Hindpool Road.

Barrow Fire Station manager Roger Exley revealed that between April 1 and 25, just under 30 fires had been recorded in Barrow, Walney and Dalton.

“It’s ruining our community," he said. "We are trying to regenerate the town, we are trying to make a difference in the town and to make it a good place to live. These fires leave a scar on the landscape, or on the alleys and the streets. It’s just not pleasant to see these things happening.

“We are working very closely with Barrow police and other partner agencies to look at the issues that are causing the antisocial behaviour. If people are found to have lit the fires, police will be prosecuting them and taking them to court about the issue.

“We are wanting people to help us. We want people to know where their children are, or their family members are if they are out and about. We need them to warn of the dangers of fire.

“We have discovered a number of aerosols inside of these fires, and because it contains compressed gas it can explode and cause a fireball. We had an incident down at the Red River where we found a number of aerosols that must have been deliberately put there to cause an explosion.

“What our young people don’t know is if they are caught in that explosion, because it can happen very quickly, the fireball can reach out two or three metres from that fire, and it can burn them directly or any wildlife in the area.”

A spokesman for Barrow police said: “We are currently working alongside our partners at Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service to investigate and tackle these fire issues. We know that issues such as antisocial behaviour which can result in fires can have a big impact on communities and we are taking this very seriously.

“We need residents to report information to us and help us deal with these issues.

“Some simple steps that people can take to cut the risk of fires include clearing any rubbish from their business premises, and putting bins out only on collection days and bringing them in straight away after they have been collected.

“People should report dumped waste to their local authority and anyone who is aware of any issues can call us on 101 or report on 999 if the crime is in progress.”

People can anonymously report antisocial behaviour that is fire related to the Firestoppers freephone number on 0800 169 55 58.