- Fire crews have been attacked more than a thousand times over two years
- Noel McKee, 49, hit with a baseball bat in North Belfast on September 11
- Female firefighter struck with stone, forcing her to go sick for eight weeks
- Fire Minister Mike Penning called violence against personnel ‘deplorable’
Fire crews in the UK have come under attack more than a thousand times over the past two years, new research has revealed.
This equals more than ten times every week on average, and includes a case of a gang hitting a female firefighter with a paving stone, forcing her to go off sick for eight weeks.
Across Britain, there were 1,063 reported attacks over the two years, with a slight decrease during 2015-16.
There were 70 assaults in Scotland during 2014-15, nearly half of them verbal, but the data for the next year has not yet been published.
The statistics, taken from the last two financial years, include 370 instances of crews coming under attack by yobs throwing objects and 71 cases of physical violence.
The remaining incidents cover verbal abuse and harassment, which have been counted together.
The attacks, revealed after MailOnline made freedom of information requests to UK fire services, have been branded ‘deplorable’ by Fire Minister Mike Penning.
Cleveland Fire Brigade suffered 47 incidents of people throwing objects at firefighters or physically attacking them, the highest in England under these categories.
Northern Ireland saw 103 attacks involving physical violence, the highest in the UK, although the force covers a larger area than English and Welsh fire and rescue authorities.
Noel McKee, 49, was dealing with a car fire with a female colleague in North Belfast on September 11 last year when he was attacked by a gang of men in their ‘early 20s’.
He told MailOnline: ‘One man hit us with a baseball bat and his friend started throwing stuff at us, including an iron bar.
‘My colleague was hit by masonry which broke a few ribs and bruised her arm.
‘We realised we had to get out but before we did were pelted with pint glasses, bricks, stones – anything they could lay their hands on.’
His colleague was taken to hospital and had to take eight weeks off work, while Mr McKee insisted on continuing his shift.
But the veteran firefighter, who has been serving for 30 years and dedicates much of his time to fundraising and improving community relations, still feels the mental impacts of the attack.
He added: ‘It’s the psychological stuff that stays with you and that’s the thing that nobody sees.
‘People want to see pictures of bruises and cuts but what they don’t see are the sleepless nights when you go through it time and time again.
‘I’d ask people to please let us do our job. There is no sense in attacking firefighters and we are not equipped with riot gear.’
The Fire Brigades Union said although the official figures ‘broadly’ reflected their own statistics, it believes attacks on firefighters are generally under-reported.
But a spokesman added that the situation is improving, with around a thousand fewer assaults during the last two years compared with 2005 to 2007.
General secretary Matt Wrack said: ‘It is almost unimaginable that firefighters could be attacked or abused as they try to save someone’s life but it is shockingly common.
‘The decline in the number of attacks over the past decade shows the positive work of youth and social engagement projects undertaken by firefighters.’
Mike Penning, Minister for Policing, Fire, Criminal Justice and Victims in England said: ‘All attacks on emergency workers are deplorable.
‘Anyone who gets in the way of emergency workers responding to a call for help will face punishment.’
Source: DailyMail.co.uk