The school holidays regularly coincide with a rise in anti-social behaviour involving children and teenagers, that’s nothing new.

But some of the most serious of these incidents are the deliberate fires which take up firefighters’ precious time and, potentially, take them away from a life-threatening house fire or accident.

Last weekend was peppered with incidents all over Blackburn.

In three days, crews were called to five deliberate blazes, mostly youngsters setting fire to grass, presumably for ‘something to do’ or ‘because they were bored’.

Firefighters do some excellent work in educating young people about the dangers of fires.

But even with the best efforts of parents, kids might play with fire. Most of the time this can be handled by explaining the dangers.

But sometimes youngsters can be especially preoccupied with fire, sometimes a sign of emotional and behavioural issues.

Parents must make it their business to know where their children are and ensure they don’t have easy access to ignition materials.

Deliberate fires pose a danger to those who light them and innocent victims elsewhere.