FIRE-RAISING is becoming a growing problem in Garelochhead, a meeting of community leaders has heard.

Around a dozen people are thought to be responsible for items being intentionally set alight in the village on a regular basis, the Helensburgh and Lomond community planning group (CPG) was told.

And Watson Robinson, convener of Garelochhead Community Council, said that the emergency services will continue to be contacted for support.

The discussion of the issue took place at a meeting of the CPG at Cove Burgh Hall on November 7.

Mr Robinson said: “In the last few years, on and off, areas of the village have been targeted.

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“Whether it is to do with kids or something else we are not sure, but it is terrifying for the residents. People are being threatened.

“We have contacted Police Scotland to get them to update their patrols, and have worked with Clyde Marine [the Clyde Marine Unit of the Ministry of Defence Police] as well.

“When they are doing their patrol and come round, they should put their spotlight on the shore to discourage people taking part in these acts.

“Setting fires is a step too far, because we don’t know where it could end up. If a garden, hedge or shed goes up, we have a major issue.

“It would be hard to get the emergency services along but we are going to continue to push them for help.”

Police Scotland were not represented at the meeting, with Inspector Roddy MacNeill sending his apologies for absence.

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Group commander Albert Bruce, of Scottish Fire and Rescue, said: “We have also had grass fires and are trying to get early intervention programmes delivered with the help of schools.”

Group chair Laura Cameron, who sits on the management committee of the Gibson Hall community centre in Garelochhead, also called for the emergency services to get tough on anybody caught wilfully fire-raising.

She said: “The CCTV system at the Gibson Hall looks on to one of the entrances to the park, which is one of the main areas where they set fires.

“There are so many people in the village saying that a fire will be contained where it is, or that it is only a bin and there is nothing worth reporting.

“There are about 10 to a dozen in the main group, for whom anything they can find gets set on fire.

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“It is worse in the school holidays.

“There have been a couple of times when the retained fire crews have been called out.

“Without disrespecting them, instead of saying that this is a problem, perhaps people are trying too hard to make friends with them. I don’t think the approach is working.

“They need to let them know that by doing this, they are wasting the fire service’s time and taking them away from potentially more important situations.”

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