Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I can confirm that Essex County Fire & Rescue Service does hold this information.
Please see below the answers to your request.
Initial Request:
Thurrock Building Control require a Fire Risk Analysis for a new nursery that we are constructing at Corringham Primary School. Could you advise on the following please:
1. Arson rate within 2-5 miles of the school.
2. Number of fires to other schools within 2-5 miles of the school.
Final Response:
Essex County Fire & Rescue Service respond to and record data about deliberate fires within the Incident Recording System (IRS). In Essex, the Police and Fire Service work collaboratively on incidents of deliberate fire setting including arson.
Deliberate fires include those where the motive for the fire was ‘thought to be’ or ‘suspected to be’ deliberate. This includes fires to an individual’s own property, others’ property or property of an unknown owner. Despite deliberate fire records including arson, deliberate fires are not the same as arson. Arson is defined under the Criminal Damage Act of 1971 as ‘an act of attempting to destroy or damage property, and/or in doing so, to endanger life’[1].
With the above in mind, ECFRS has provided below the number of deliberate fires (including arson) per year that were within 2 miles (Table 1) and 5 miles (Table 2) of Corringham Primary School as well as other schools within 2-5 miles of the former, between 1st January 2015 and 31 December 2019.
Table 1: Within 2 miles (3.2km):
|
Years |
Count of Deliberate Fires attended by ECFRS |
|
2015 |
34 |
|
2016 |
26 |
|
2017 |
17 |
|
2018 |
29 |
|
2019 |
24 |
|
Grand Total |
130 |
Table 2: Within 5 miles (8km)1:
|
Years |
Count of Deliberate Fires attended by ECFRS |
|
2015 |
251 |
|
2016 |
332 |
|
2017 |
313 |
|
2018 |
224 |
|
2019 |
312 |
|
Grand Total |
1432 |
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