Wheelie bin fires – “Could have grave consequences”

Fire crews were called to a fire in a Perthshire Village after several wheelie bins were set on fire at the rear of two houses.

The situation was under control within minutes using a hose to extinguish flames but police said that these kind of fires could have grave consequences.

A spokesperson for Tayside Police said: “We get reports of this sort of thing from time to time, but this is the first incident like this we’ve had in Bankfoot. Generally speaking, it’s wanton vandalism and creates unnecessary work for fire fighters but obviously it also has potentially dangerous consequences as someone could end up getting seriously hurt or worse.”

In 2011, police launched an investigation after torched wheelie bins sparked a blaze that almost destroyed a conservatory and left an elderly Perth resident traumatised.

Fortunately, the woman who was reading in bed, smelled smoke and raised the alarm in time.

“It must have been about midnight when I smelled something strange,” said the terrified OAP. I walked through the house thinking, ‘something’s not right’, and when I got to the conservatory, I saw a glow in the window. So I opened the blinds and got the shock of my life – my rubbish bins had been burnt to a cinder and the flames had caught hold of the conservatory itself. The firefighters told me that the whole house could have gone up, so what would have happened to me if I’d taken my sleeping pills that night? And when I have house guests, they sleep in the conservatory, so they could have been overcome with smoke and fumes. God knows what could have happened really.”