On 19 May 2021, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service were called to an incident in Leicester involving protesters on the roof of a commercial premises.
There has been a number of reports regarding this incident and we feel it is important to clarify the facts of the Fire Service involvement.
We attended in the early hours of the 19 May and provided safety advice to the protesters and also used an Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) to transport a police negotiator onto the roof.
Our primary attendance was to ensure the safety of all individuals involved, contributing to our purpose of Safer People, Safer Places. Once this had been completed, our permanent attendance was no longer necessary and crews left the scene for other duties. In liaison with the Police we re-attended the incident at around 19:00hrs and remained on scene overnight to support the ongoing operation.
Fire crews have and will continue to provide operational expertise and equipment to assist the Police in a peaceful resolution of the incident – this has and will continue to be done in a neutral manner.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
Interviews can be arranged through prior arrangement with Corporate Communications on the details below.
About the Service
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service provides emergency response, prevention and protection services from 20 stations across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Its headquarters is based in Birstall, Leicester.
During 2019/20, we attended a total of 8,541 emergency incidents, including 2,079 fires and 748 road traffic collisions. A total of 7,274 Home Safety Checks were completed and we fitted 4,720 smoke alarms. 305 schools were visited as part of the Service’s schools programme, delivering fire and road safety education to 26,218 pupils. Staff organised or took part in 1,218 community safety activities, totalling over 11,000 hours of time engaging with members of the public.
The Service’s prevention, education, enforcement and inspection programmes have resulted in significant reductions in the number of incidents. In the last ten years, fire-related incidents have reduced by over 30 percent.
Contact:
Corporate Communications
Direct: 0116 210 5592, 07966 111 273 or 0116 210 5768
