Police officers to be based at 10 fire stations across Glasgow area on Bonfire Night
Twenty officers will work from fire stations in Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire on Thursday, as public order officers from England and Wales arrive to help.
File image of a Bonfire Night celebration. Police and fire crews are preparing for one of the busiest nights of the year. · Photograph: Llewee (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Police officers will be based at fire stations across the Glasgow area on Bonfire Night, as Police Scotland promises "robust action" against anyone causing trouble on what is expected to be one of the busiest nights of the year.
The force revealed on Tuesday that 20 officers will be based at 10 fire stations across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire on Thursday, November 5.
Officers drafted in from England and Wales
Police Scotland has also drafted in public order officers from forces in England and Wales, including Avon and Somerset, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire and Hampshire.
The force said the operation would be its largest deployment of officers since US President Donald Trump visited Aberdeenshire in 2025.
Control zones and a dispersal zone
Working alongside the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), the force said it "absolutely" has enough resources to tackle firework-related crime and antisocial behaviour across the region.
"From a Police Scotland perspective, there has been extensive planning that has taken place in the lead-up to November 5," the force said.
"There are four firework control zones that have been implemented within Glasgow, and we have resources placed in those areas as we speak just now. There will also be a dispersal zone in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow, and again, that will have a commensurate policing response to it as well."
Disorder down last year
Last year, the force received more than 830 reports of disorder over a few days around Bonfire Night – a drop of almost 40% on the previous year.
Fire service "ready"
SFRS area commander and head of preparedness Mark Cleland said Bonfire Night is always a "significant night" for the fire service, but that crews are ready.
He said that last year the service took 750 calls at its control rooms on Bonfire Night and attended more than 250 bonfires.
Advice for the public
Police and firefighters are urging people to attend organised public displays rather than set off their own fireworks or build bonfires, and to report any antisocial behaviour to police on 101, or 999 in an emergency.
Under Scottish law, fireworks can only be set off by the public between 6pm and midnight on November 5, and firework control zones can ban their use entirely in designated areas.