We Are Teesside

It is estimated that around 2,000 attacks on fire fighters take place in the UK every year, and while prosecutions against offenders are increasing, so too are the number of cases involving fire fighters being subjected to both physical and verbal abuse.

Ian Holdsworth has been with Cleveland Fire Brigade for more than 10 years, and is based at the Middlesbrough station.

They regularly get called to trouble spots in the town where fires have been started deliberately, and are often greeted by gangs throwing stones and glass bottles at the attending crews.

"You may have gone to just put out a rubbish fire, but sometimes there will be people there who throw bricks or bottles at you.

“Then you will go inside the house to deal with the fire and they will have set booby traps, such as pulling the floorboards up, and of course it's pitch black because of smoke so you can't see where you are treading.

"Recently one of the lads had a concrete block thrown at him, which left him badly injured and unable to work.

"We've even had cases of gas canisters being deliberately left inside houses.

"Now we have CCTV cameras on the wagons now, so we can pass on any footage of attacks on us onto the Police and then they can pursue a prosecution.

"I don't think anybody will say they joined the fire brigade to have things thrown at them."