Halloween attack on firefighters near Undercliffe cemetery branded 'disgusting'

Stones were thrown at a fire engine while it was dealing with an incident near Undercliffe Cemetery at 5.45pm on Tuesday.

Crews could hear stones bouncing off the fire engine and police were called to the incident.

Halloween was a busy day for the fire service, with more than 600 calls coming into the control room and crews attending more than 125 incidents.

There were six attacks on firefighters around the county, one in Bradford, one in Halifax, and three in Leeds.

Dave Walton, deputy chief fire officer, said: “Whilst our firefighters were trying to carry out a job and protect the community, they also came under attack, which in our eyes is disgusting.

“The fact it was Halloween does not excuse dangerous behaviour which could result in serious injury.

“We are now in the run up to Bonfire Night and we urge communities to spread our ‘More than a Uniform’ campaign message that this must stop now.”

The More than a Uniform campaign aims to highlight firefighters are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters to discourage people from attacking crews in their line of duty.

Martin Speed, district commander for Bradford, added: "Attacks of this kind, carried out against firefighters just doing their job, can affect the safety of the very communities in which the attacks are carried out, by causing our response into those communities to be delayed.”

In Halifax, fireworks were thrown at a moving fire engine on two occasions in the same area of the town at 7.20pm and 7.45pm.

In Leeds, bricks were thrown at firefighters tackling a blaze in a bin in Harehills, around 30 people threw fireworks at crews tackling a fire in the Hyde Park area, and fireworks were again thrown at firefighters and a fire engine in the Hyde Park area later in the evening.