THERE were five attacks on firefighters on Bonfire Night as the service responded to more than 350 callouts.
Official figures released from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) showed there were 1025 calls during an eight-hour period on November 5.
Operations control staff mobilised crews to 356 bonfires, with firefighters attending 242 incidents in the west service area, 89 in the east and 25 in the north between 3.30pm and 11.30pm on Saturday.
There were three attacks on crews in the west and two in the east, the figures show.
It is understood there were no injuries reported from the firefighters.
Bonfire Night tends to be one of the busiest nights of the year for firefighters, with a similar number of callouts made during the same time frame in 2021.
Assistant chief officer David Farries, director of service delivery for the SFRS, said: “It has been another busy and challenging evening for our crews and operations control staff around Scotland and I thank them for their dedication.
“We are disappointed to report five attacks on our firefighters.
“In the run-up to Bonfire Night, we had spoken about this kind of unacceptable behaviour by a small minority which sadly happens year after year.
“Our staff should be able to carry out their role without being attacked and it is disappointing that people have tried to hurt firefighters and have damaged our appliances and equipment.
“Crews only attend bonfire-related incidents when people contact us about concerns over public safety and we extinguish fires that are unsafe.
“We put a huge amount of planning and preparation into this evening with local partners and other emergency services as we work together to protect communities, which is always our top priority.”
Figures from 2021 showed the service received more than 1,020 calls over the same eight-hour period on November 5, and responded to 374 bonfires.
There were eight reported attacks on crews along with three injuries last year.
The SFRS said it attended 880 deliberate secondary fires, including bin and grass fires, in the weeks preceding Bonfire Night, between October 8 and November 5, 2021.
