CHESHIRE East has seen a fall in the number of serious deliberate fires compared to figures from the previous period.

This is according to new statistics released by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service in its annual report which runs from summer 2018 to summer 2019.

A reduction was also recorded in the number of accidental and minor fires as well as the number of injuries caused by fires.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service say this is due to an ‘intelligence-led approach’ in identifying problem areas with high activity rates.

Between summer 2018 and summer 2019 in Cheshire East, firefighters responded to 2,982 emergencies.

Serious fires that caused harm to people and damaged property accounted for 370 of this figure, showing a slight rise of six compared with the previous period.

The number of deliberate fires involving buildings and vehicles decreased from 68 to 65, while the number of small but deliberate fires saw a significant decrease from 204 to 150.

Accidental fires in the home have reduced by eight to total 130 and injury rates remained low.

No deaths from accidental fires in the home were recorded during the 12-month period.

In its annual report for Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “We continue to focus on providing excellent emergency response services and high quality, innovative prevention activities, focused on reducing risks and keeping the community safe.

“Our prevention work took us into 14,651 homes, many schools, community groups and local businesses.

“We also delivered youth programmes, have vibrant fire cadet units operating on many of our stations and worked with many partners to improve road safety.

“Our intelligence-led approach to identifying ‘hotspot’ areas of high activity has become more sophisticated, so problem areas will be highlighted and tackled with a range of arson reduction and youth engagement initiatives.”