Special report: Derek's fight against Shropshire arson attacks

Thankfully nobody was hurt and only minimal damage was caused, but it could have been a very different story.

And when 29-year-old Brooks, from the Dawley area of Telford, appeared before Judge Peter Barrie at Shrewsbury Town Court in January, he was handed a sentence of four years in prison.

People wouldn't start fires if they knew the reality, says Derek Taylor.

The retired police officer now works for Shropshire Fire Service, and it falls to him to make young people aware of how starting fires can not only ruin their own lives, but those of others too.

Mr Taylor, who talks to young people who have been involved in arson, says the offenders are genuinely shocked when confronted with the possible consequences of their actions. Starting fires not only puts them at risk of a jail sentence, it can also put their own lives in danger.

Malicious

One dramatic image used by the Shropshire Fire Service to drive home the point is of a blaze in Wrockwardine, Telford, in 2014, in which crews faced a wall of flame – all started by a single match thrown into some straw bales.

The point is that, in all fires either in a house or outside, a single malicious act can have devastating consequences.

"We show young people a video which takes a camera inside a burning house, and they are going through it during the fire," says Mr Taylor.

"They are quite shocked that you can't see your hand in front of you, and that could be you if you were trapped inside.

"Most people think you can run around in a burning building, like you see on television, and you can easily get out," he says.

"In reality you may take three or four breaths and you will be on the floor."

This week is Arson Awareness Week and Mr Taylor, who is fire crime officer for Shropshire Fire Service, is tasked with reducing the number of fires started deliberately around the county. Figures show that nearly half of all fires attended by the fire service are the result of arson attacks.

Since April 1 last year, 389 fires have been started deliberately across the county – more than one every day.

The figure marks a 14 per cent fall on the previous year, when Shropshire suffered 453 arson attacks, but that is still 389 too many. Nationally, arson attacks cost insurers more than £1 billion a year.

More 50 people died in fires that were started deliberately in the year up until April 2015. Mr Taylor, through his work with young offenders, tries to drive home the dangers of starting fires, both to the arsonists themselves and to the wider public.

And while one might think that trying to educate truculent teenagers into changing their ways is a rather thankless task, he says the youngsters are often surprisingly receptive when they are forced to confront the possible consequences of their actions.

"There's a video which acts out a real-life sequence, where somebody is going to prison," he says.

"Sometimes people don't realise how a fire can spread," he says.

There are times, though, when the 59-year-old cannot believe the stupidity of some people.

"I remember about four or five years ago, when some pallets were put deliberately against a wall of a factory in Telford, and set alight," he says.

"Underneath them were gas some gas canisters, and one of them exploded and shot through the side of the factory."