AUTHORITIES must make sure that a Bonfire Night incident that saw a Bradford teen lose his life “never happens again".

Mohammed Qais Ratyal, 17, was found injured in the garden of a property on Vickerman Street, Halifax, on Bonfire Night. 

An inquest into his death heard Mohammed was part of a group that had travelled to Halifax and were seen in Vickerman Street.

Reports were made to police of people seen 'garden hopping' on the street that night.

The court was told Mohammed became impaled on the glass of a greenhouse that he had fallen into, or through.

His death came on the night when police were called to complaints about a group of people hurling fireworks.

At the time, West Yorkshire Police said the matter had been reported to the Independent Office of Police Conduct as officers were called to the vicinity due to a report of fireworks being set off prior to the incident.

The incident was raised at a meeting of West Yorkshire Fire Authority on Friday, when members were given a briefing on this year’s Bonfire period.

Halifax Councillor Mohammed Fazal (Lab) described the death as a “tragedy".

He said large scale disorder had been seen in previous Bonfire Nights in Bradford – but that such incidents greatly reduced in that area over recent years.

Cllr Fazal said: “Bradford have overcome this type of problem that we in Halifax faced on that night – we need to learn from them.

“They were able to deal with it by liaising with local community groups and organisations through a multi-agency approach.

“In the future we must make sure that tragedies like this never, ever happen again. We will do everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.”

Members of the authority were told that while there were incidents that the police had to deal with over the Bonfire period, it was a quieter than usual one for the fire service.

Crews were called out to 230 Bonfire related incidents, down from 253 the previous year.

There were six attacks on fire crews, although none involved serious injuries. This was down from 14 in 2021.

Earlier in the meeting members heard how, despite there being few major incidents over the Bonfire period, the Bradford area was still proving problematic for the service.

A report to members revealed there had been 37 attacks on firefighters in West Yorkshire between April and the end of September.

Of these, 17 had been in the Bradford district.

They included five physical assaults on Bradford crews, two incidents where a weapon was brandished at crews and others where stones and fireworks were thrown at crews.

Councillor Mike Pollard (Cons, Baildon) said: “Bradford always seems to lead the league table of shame when it comes to these attacks.

“I don’t understand it. I can’t believe that Bradford has a higher proportion of idiots than other areas of West Yorkshire, but according to these figures it seems to be the case.

“Consistently when we get these figures Bradford accounts for around 50 per cent of such incidents. That is deeply regrettable.”

Councillor Fazal replied: “When you have an economic meltdown and a lot of people are frustrated, they often take it out on people of authority like firefighters.

“The key is educating them that these people are there to save lives.”