Crap Towns / Wantage / Deliberate fires

How many fires get started on purpose in Wantage?

There were 11.2 deliberate fires per 10,000 people a year in Wantage from April 2023 to March 2026, 2.0 times the typical town's 5.7. The most common were bins and rubbish set on fire, at 5.8. In 2025/26 it was 10.6, up from 6.2 in 2023/24.

**Over time**
Period	Here	Typical town
2023/24	6.2	5.2
2024/25	16.8	5.4
2025/26	10.6	6.4

**What was set alight**
Fire	Here	Typical town
Bins and rubbish set on fire	5.8	1.9
Grass, woods and crops set on fire	3.3	1.7
Other outdoor fires	2.1	1.5

**Nearby towns**
Town	Distance	Fires per 10,000 people a year
Wantage	–	11.2
Faringdon	13.1 km	8.6
Grove	1.8 km	8.0
Shrivenham and Watchfield	15.2 km	6.1
Didcot	12.5 km	3.8
Eynsham	21.5 km	3.6
Carterton	21.5 km	3.0
Abingdon-on-Thames	14.2 km	2.4
Wallingford	20.3 km	2.0
Highworth	20.3 km	1.6
Hungerford	20.7 km	0.3
The typical town	–	5.7