OFFICERS from Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue have teamed up to tackle wilful fire-raising in Drumchapel and the surrounding area following the events of November 5.

Emergency services came under attack on Bonfire Night when police responded to a car fire in the area before their vehicle windscreen was smashed – resulting in an officer washing glass from his eye.

Despite the chaos both Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue have confirmed that the night itself didn’t get out of control as originally feared.

An update was brought before the Safe Glasgow partnership last week.

Superintendent Gary I’Anson said: “There was a lot of really good operational work, both at tactical and strategical operational levels. We were expecting the worst given the contents of this year.

“The most incidents of note were in the Drumchapel area with groups of 40 people or more where fireworks and bricks were thrown deliberately at police and fire service personnel.

“A police car window was smashed, and an officer covered in glass – that seems to have been a hot spot.”

“We need different boundaries for next year. As a result, this has strengthened our joint relationships and we are going to have monthly meetings looking at the wilful fire-raising related incidents to ensure we have a shared awareness of fire related and organised crime.”

Martin Cassidy from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service also highlighted some of the fears in the run up to Bonfire Night shared by crew members.

He said: “We had a feeling that this was going to be a horrendous time for us. While it was still very busy, and we did have a couple of unfortunate incidents in terms of attacks it wasn’t as bad as we first thought.

“We attended 178 incidents across Glasgow between 7am on November 5 and 7am on November 6.”