A school pupil was caught selling fireworks to classmates in a “terrifying” discovery ahead of Bonfire Night.
Councillors have called for action after fire service bosses revealed that they were handed fireworks by an unnamed secondary school that a youngster had been flogging to other students.
The incident, understood to have happened at a school in Newcastle on 24 October, has become a source of major concern for members of the Tyne and Wear Fire Authority.
Its chair, Sunderland councillor Phil Tye, told a meeting on Monday: “To see that fireworks were being sold by a pupil in one of our schools is terrifying. I think this is clearly the next step [in the service’s Bonfire period safety initiative] and not something we will be able to tackle on our own. It is my biggest concern.”
Gateshead representative Gary Haley added that it was “very worrying that this is going on in schools”.
The Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service reported an overall drop in the number of incidents it had to deal with over the Bonfire period, from 1-6 November.
The number of calls it received compared to the same time in 2022 fell from 896 to 829, the number of deliberate secondary fires dropped from 188 to 143, and there were five attacks on fire crews as opposed to seven last year.
Fire chiefs reported that they had worked with local councils ahead of time to remove combustible materials from the streets before the loose rubbish could be used as fuel for a blaze.
15-minute assemblies were also delivered in schools to speak about the dangers of Bonfire Night and attacks on emergency services.
Speaking about the general risk posed by illicit firework sales, Coun Tye added: “Cars turning up and opening their boots, with fireworks sitting there on top of a full tank of fuel doesn’t seem like a good plan to me.
“I want to know how we are going to tackle that – clearly with local authority trading standards and the police, as well as ourselves. We will have to change and diversify, just as the sale of fireworks is.”
Chief Fire Officer Peter Heath added: “Most people in society are responsibly enjoying the time of year with their families and friends. It is a small number of individuals who have a significant impact on us.
“Resolving these incidents won’t be done solely by the fire service, it is a whole society thing. But I think we can change it. It will take time but I think we can change it and it is incumbent upon us that we do that.”
