Warning after spate of ‘deliberate’ fires at historic Nottingham Guildhall

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) is warning of the “serious consequences” which could arise from arsonists causing deliberate fires at a historic Nottingham city centre landmark. 

Since May, emergency services across Nottinghamshire have been responding to a growing number of deliberate fires in the city centre, particularly at the Guildhall site.

In a six-week period between May 27 and July 27, NFRS attended nine incidents at the derelict building in South Sherwood Street.

NFRS says that its emergency response to incidents at the Guildhall over this period used more than 40 resources, including fire engines and specialist equipment.

Once a magistrates’ court, the Grade II listed Guildhall has been vacant since 2010. 

A NFRS spokesperson said: “Setting deliberate fires is dangerous in many ways, and has serious consequences, therefore, to prevent these from happening further, there was a multi-agency approach, and preventatives have been put in place to stop people entering the building. 

“This has thankfully been successful, and since working collaboratively with Nottingham City Council we have only attended one incident at the Grade-II listed building since July 7, and this was a false alarm.”

Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Damien West, said: “Starting fires deliberately can be extremely harmful to those setting the fires, others within the local community and the environment. It’s a great risk to themselves and a drain on resources for fire, police, and ambulance services. 

“We are urging parents to educate their children and know where they are at all times, especially throughout the summer holidays - it is incredibly dangerous for anyone to be playing with fire.

“It is also an additional risk when they are entering derelict buildings like the Guild Hall site. 

“There are a lot of hazards where they can easily get hurt. If one of these fires were to get out of hand, we could have been faced with a serious incident, and even loss of life, which is something we never want to be dealing with.”