South Tyneside sent fire risk warning - here's what people must do
South Tyneside residents are being urged to report fires when they see one - as many don’t get flagged.
Calls have been made for residents to report any blazes they see to help firefighters in South Tyneside target deliberate fire starters and boost their prevention work.
Concerns were raised at the latest meeting of Hebburn Community Area Forum (CAF) around deliberate grassland fires being started in the area.
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service bosses urged residents to report any incidents they see - adding it helps them pull together prevention plans which include going into schools to carry out educational sessions.
Data from the fire service for Hebburn, along with other CAF areas, shows a drop in the number of deliberate fires for the period from April 1 to April 30, 2026 compared to the same month last year.
Fire brigade bosses at previous CAF meetings have highlighted how they can often see more grass and scrubland blazes during dry spells and the warmer months.
Station manager Jonathan Ramanayake, speaking at the latest Hebburn CAF meeting, said: “The issue is a lot of times people see where there has been a fire or they witness a fire but don’t ring the fire service.
"If those jobs aren't called in it skews the figures to show them lower than they should be.
"That means I can't put resources into the areas where we have actually got quite a problem so I would encourage people to report anything no matter how small you think it is."
He added the fire service will always send "an appropriate resource" and reassured residents they are "not wasting any time" by reporting smaller fires - noting they will "always preference life risk incidents".
The latest meeting of Hebburn CAF heard the fire service compiles reports weekly to look for hotspots and to work with partner agencies "to try and tackle these problems".
Station manager Ramanayake continued: "The service operates school sessions where we’ll go into schools and speak to the key age groups.
"If we know the area that we’ve got the issues in we can identify potentially the schools whose pupils are carrying it out and specifically target those schools.
"Rest assured we do have a proactive prevention and education programme in place, but again like with everything it’s whether those individuals take up that information and take that on board."
During the period from April 1 to April 30, 2026 the Hebburn CAF area saw nine deliberate secondary fires, which are generally smaller outdoor fires not involving people or property, down from 20 the previous year.
Meanwhile the Jarrow and Boldon CAF region saw 22, down from 74, and Riverside CAF registered nine, compared to 38 in April 2025.
In the East Shields and Whitburn Community Area Forum (CAF) area the fire service recorded six secondary fires, down from 33.
If a fire is ongoing residents are urged to always call 999.
However if they want to provide information on a fire which previously took place and is no longer burning they can contact FireStoppers anonymously by visiting https://forms.theiline.co.uk/firestoppers or by calling 0800 169 5558.