Scottish fire brigade captures bonfire night on film

North Lanarkshire Council put its IP CCTV network at the disposal of the local fire services for last weekend's bonfire night celebrations, helping firefighters spot danger.

The Council installed a network of CCTV cameras in more than 250 locations in seven town centres across the area in February, at a cost of £1.3m.

For the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue (SFR) service, bonfire night is its busiest time. According to SFR group commander within North Lanarkshire, Gerry MacMillan, the service was called out four times more often last weekend than any other period in the year. The service used the CCTV network to identify areas of danger.

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The system helped SFR to spot impromptu big bonfires. MacMillan explained: "We used the system to identify areas of build-up of combustible materials by unsupervised individuals in unsuitable locations. This gave us the opportunity to remove them and encourage citizens to visit supervised displays."

MacMillan said his firefighters extinguished 44 secondary fires - not deemed to be a danger to property - and visited 41 raised alarms where fears of danger proved to be unfounded.

He told silicon.com the CCTV system was valuable to the service, helping them remove potential hazards. In one instance, firefighters were alerted to a hazardous fire that appeared to have been deliberately started. The CCTV network could prove useful in identifying the perpetrators, he said.

MacMillan added: "Not all of the area is covered by the CCTV network and we will work together with the council to see how the service can be improved."

The CCTV network could also be invaluable in helping to protect firefighting staff from violence, he added.