New bid to reduce home fires

Staffordshire fire chiefs are to step up efforts to reduce the number of fires in the county caused by carelessness in the home. Latest figures released by Staffordshire fire authority show a marked increase in home fires and small incidents.

Tackling these areas is to become a top priority for the service. Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Authority presented the figures for the second quarter of this year, April-June, at its meeting on Monday. During the period, there was a decrease in fire casualties.

There was a total of nine serious injuries and two deaths. In the same timescale last year, there were 13 serious injuries. However, the results are still not on target, and the aim is to decrease the figure to nine serious injuries per quarter.

But a worrying trend has developed with domestic blazes. The target for this category is 120 but there were 144 accidental dwelling fires in three months.

Chief Fire Officer Alan Doig said: "The cause of food left unattended is continuing to fall thankfully, but the majority of these other fires usually arise from carelessness in homes. Accidental fires in dwellings are the reasons why people are losing there lives.

"The first quarter is very disappointing; there has been an eight per cent increase compared to last year. We must target our campaigns against the causes of fires which we get in Staffordshire, rather than the general educational approaches for the fire service. The service is seeking to become responsive and better targeted."

He said the best way of decreasing dwelling fires is to have localised approaches enabling firefighters to be increasingly proactive rather than reactive.

Stations are also holding a case conference after every dwelling fire to detail the exact cause and the actions taken by the firefighters.

Mr Doig added: "There was also an eight percent increase in smaller fires, and in particular refuse bin fires continue to grow.

The results have shown one area of success. Car fires in Staffordshire are showing a year-on-year decrease. The results are averaging 50 a month, compared to up to 110 a month three years ago.

Partnerships with councils to remove untaxed cars have proved to be the success story in this field.