Appeal After 91 Deliberate Car Fires In Wrexham In A Year

Wrexham residents are being urged to be on their guard following another spate of arson attacks on cars this week.

Shocking figures released by North Wales Fire and Rescue Service reveal that there have been 91 arson attacks on cars in Wrexham since 1st April 2011 accounting for over half of the 177 deliberate car fires across North Wales in that period.

This week alone there were 8 deliberately started car fires in the Wrexham county and there have been 21 since January.

Kevin Jones, Arson Reduction Manager, said: “The issue of deliberate car fires in Wrexham has been ongoing for some time, numbers fluctuate and spike every now and again. Unfortunately, there remains the real concern that one of these fires is going to spread to a property and someone may get hurt.

“Cars are a very popular target for deliberate fire setters especially over night time periods – I would also ask residents to keep an eye on their own vehicles as well as watching out for any suspicious behaviour around other vehicles in the area.

“Very often the cars are parked near to residential properties and there is a danger that the fires could spread causing damage to the house and serious injury to the occupants.

“This type of activity is a serious drain on fire and rescue resources – when crews are called to attend life threatening incidents such as house fires and road traffic collisions, appliances are not diverted from a deliberate fire, the next available fire appliance is mobilised. This may involve a time delay which could prove fatal.

“We have been working closely with local policing teams to combat this issue – arson is a serious crime and in conjunction with North Wales Police we will pursue prosecutions.

“We would appeal to communities to help us stamp out this mindless criminal activity by identifying the culprits and reporting it to North Wales Police by calling 101 or contacting Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”