Feeling the heat on busiest night

The two Red Watch fire engines from the station were so busy that cover from Halifax, Idle, Stanningley, Shipley and Fairweather Green were all drafted into the city centre at one point to cope with the demand.

The record in a single night is 68 calls. But last night, despite the initial rush at Bradford Central, it was quieter with just 32 calls.

So do firefighters love to work on November 5?

The answer is a resounding "yes".

"This is why we are in the job," said firefighter Andy Carter. "It is a night of excitement and it is usually property, not people, that is at risk.

"You are involved from start to finish and that is what is good. That is the job."

What is also, sadly, "the job" is coping with the bricks and bottles, spit and verbal abuse from teenagers.

At one stage around 15 drunken teenagers had gathered at a fire in Paley Road, off Wakefield Road.

The fire had to be put out because it was so close to a house that it melted guttering and cracked an upstairs window. Police were called to the incident at about 7pm.

Another call-out was to a bonfire in Manningham where youths were reported to be throwing fireworks at police.

Two police rapid response cars went ahead of the pumps last night, with a fire officer on board, to advise them how to approach a fire and if it was safe to tackle it at all.

In rare cases an engine has arrived but been forced to pull back and wait for the police to deal with yobs.

On other occasions hooligans have barricaded engines in dead-end streets.

But CCTV cameras on the front of engines now serve as a good deterrent.

Firefighter Martin Johnson, who was logging the constant stream of calls from headquarters at Birkenshaw, said: "They spot the cameras and know we have them, then pull up their hoods over their heads and usually disappear."

There is also the problem about what goes onto the fire. Chemical drums, gas cylinders, oil and tyres have all been discovered.