Accidental house fires lowest in a decade

There were 550 blazes in the county – and the number has dropped by 100 in the last four years.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service says the figure was 629 a decade ago.

Despite the fall though bosses say the number of injuries caused at the fires has actually increased.

In 2012/2013 there were 16 injuries and for 2013/14 that rose to 22 injuries.

Last month 53-year-old Alison Hatton died after a fire started by a cigarette spread through her home in Tamar Grove, Stafford.

An investigation revealed the blaze was started by a cigarette that had dropped onto the settee and started smouldering. The flames soon spread through the ground floor. Fire service chiefs say they are stepping up fire safety campaigns and increasing people's awareness of dangers around the home.

Chief fire officer Peter Dartford said: "We are extremely pleased to have seen a further drop in the number of accidental house fires but there remains plenty more work to be done, particularly as we have seen an increase in the number of injuries at these fires. We remain absolutely committed to driving down the levels of fire casualties year on year, however, as the numbers are small, the statistics are fragile and can be skewed by one or two incidents involving multiple casualties.

"We have a working group of officers and authority members exploring whether there is any evidence of reasons why we have had this increase in casualties as we are keen to determine if there are any lessons we need to learn, so that we can do all we can together with our partners to continue the downward trend of fire casualties into the future by addressing the lifestyle choices that increase vulnerability to fires."

Figures also show that the number of grass fires has rocketed from 364 in 2012/13 to 886 in 2013/14. Bosses say the wet summer of 2012 meant the figures were much lower than usual. And small fires, excluding grass blazes, has gone up from 1,210 in 2012/13 to 1,360 in 2013/14.