Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue chief 'incredibly proud' of staff's efforts during busy period
Chief fire officer Jonathon Pryce said they have done an "amazing job" in coping and dealing with the level of demand they've seen recently
A Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue chief has praised all staff members for their work in tackling the large number of incidents they've had in the last few months.
The service attended several fires across the West Midlands region last week, including one on Thursday in Pershore on Lancelott Court off Three Springs Road, where a number of homes were damaged.
It's as conditions have remained largely warm and dry this summer, with the West Midlands being officially in drought status since the end of last month.
Chief fire officer Jonathon Pryce, said since May, they've been to "well in excess of 800 fires in the open" in and around the two counties they cover.
He said last week was "peak activity" with Thursday being the busiest day, seeing them attend well over 40 incidents, and has thanked everyone involved with the service for all their efforts.
"All of our staff, and that's not just the operational firefighters on the ground who've been doing a sterling and fantastic job, it's also the fire control staff that are being inundated and taking all the calls, it's the officers that are out and about supervising and attending the incidents," he said.
"This has been a really busy period since May, they're working under incredibly difficult conditions out there, and the resilience of the whole time firefighters who are working all their shifts, extra hours, overtime, and our on-call firefighters who are working every day, often for many hours, it's frankly astonishing.
"They really are superheroes the staff, they are doing an amazing job under months of continued, very demanding conditions."
While focusing on tackling the fires within the service's area, it's also helped the likes of West Midlands Fire Service deal with the large blaze in Stourbridge last Thursday, which covered around 500 acres and destroyed 19 homes.
Alongside thanking the staff, Pryce has also called on the public to make sure they're doing everything they can to reduce the risk of fires, and to follow the safety advice out there.
"The public, for me, there needs to be a change in behaviour," he said.
"I mentioned the 800 incidents we've been to involving fires outside in the open since May, at least about 90 of those have been caused by bonfires, garden fires and incinerators, those are all avoidable, those require people to change their habits and behaviours.
"The difference being is under a normal British summer where everything is green, you can normally stamp it out yourself if something goes wrong or you might lose a fence or a hedge, under these conditions, we've got to learn that the risk is so much more elevated and a single small mistake, whether deliberate or accidental or another cause, will get away from you in seconds."
More information on safety advice can be found over on Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service's website.