OFFICERS from Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue have teamed up to tackle wilful fire-raising across Glasgow following the events of Bonfire Night.

Emergency services came under attack on November 5 when police responded to a car fire in Drumchapel before their vehicle windscreen was smashed – resulting in an officer washing glass from his eye.

Despite the chaos, both Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue have confirmed that the night itself didn’t get out of control with rogue bonfires as originally feared.

Both will continue to work together to prevent incidents like this from occurring in the future and to detect organised fire related crime, they said in an update brought before the Safe Glasgow partnership.

READ MORE: Bonfire Night: Glasgow councillor issues warning to Drumchapel on fireworks displays​

Superintendent Gary I’Anson said: “There was a lot of really good operational work, both at tactical and strategical operational levels. We were expecting the worst given the contents of this year.

“What police were called to was just under 20% less than previous years. We were in the region of 550 incidents which officers attended during that whole period which is just over 100 less than last year.

“The most incidents of note were in the Drumchapel area with groups of 40 people or more where fireworks and bricks were thrown deliberately at police and fire service personnel.

“A police car window was smashed and an officer covered in glass – that seems to have been a hot spot.”

Superintendent I’Anson highlighted work that had been carried out to remove waste that would be used for public bonfires before the date.

He told the committee what the next steps would be to prepare for next year.

READ MORE: Bonfire Night warning as chaos erupts across Glasgow​

Mr I’Anson said: “There are still learning points. Because of the volume which we deal with, we rightly have radio channels to manage certain areas. What that means is someone coming in from another area could be by default on a different radio channel.

“We need different boundaries for next year. As a result, this has strengthened our joint relationships and we are going to have monthly meetings looking at the wilful fire-raising related incidents to ensure we have a shared awareness of fire-related and organised crime.”

Martin Cassidy from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said that they attended 178 incidents across Glasgow between 7am on November 5 and 7am on November 6.

He added: “I am pleased to say while it was still very busy, and we did have a couple of unfortunate incidents in terms of attacks, it wasn’t as bad as we first thought.

“Unfortunately, we had four acts of violence towards our crews and one of our police officers injured as he was supporting us.”