A SIX-year-old boy pushes a shopping trolley, stuffed full of paper, towards the bushes.

Egged on by the older youths around him, he takes out a lighter, carefully sets the paper alight, and runs off to join the gang.

The young arsonist was involved in one of many incidents witnessed by security patrol officer Paul Wood, 43, who is helping to protect Redcar and Cleveland Council's "vulnerable" schools while the fire strike is on.

The first night of the strike was relatively quiet with a couple of false alarms, and and on Thursday night, as he patrolled a "high-risk" school in Grangetown with colleague Mick Keating, 31, it looked like the heavy downpour was keeping the young tearaways at bay.

Paul, who works for Select Security, in Middlesbrough, said: "We are looking for any piles of rubbish up against buildings which they might set fire to, and any breaches of security, such as broken windows or doors kicked in.

"There could be something as simple as a light on, which may mean something's not quite right."

Select Security staff already work for the council, patrolling in pairs, protecting building work and empty properties.

During the strike, four officers are dedicated to fire watch.

They patrol through the night, from 6pm to 5.45am, shining their torches into every nook and cranny as they search for anything untoward.

The council has also stepped up rubbish collections at the schools during the strike and moved skips away from buildings.

School alarms in the area are linked to a control centre, which alerts the council and security patrols.

At this school, during the past few months, there have been young thieves climbing in through skylights and broken windows.

Recently, musical instruments were left scattered across the playground, dropped by thieves fleeing at the sound of the school's alarm.

On other nights, at other schools and playgrounds, there have been incidents of graffiti, and small fires being started. It is mainly petty crime.

Paul and Mick believe the crime would be more prolific on strike nights if the council had not stepped up the security patrols.

On Thursday night, the wet weather kept potential young vandals indoors.

But Mick said: "The more determined ones won't be put off. But this rain keeps a lot of them off the streets."