Firefighters tackled 220 blazes in June as arson incidents increased in the south of the county, new figures reveal.
Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service updated the county’s crime and fire commissioner Peter McCall on its work so far during 2023 at a Public Accountability Conference.
In total, firefighters attended 869 blazes between April 1 and October 31.
June saw a peak in fires and Mr McCall was told the service saw a rise in anti-social behaviour with fire-setting becoming a regular occurrence among the youth in Barrow.
The service worked with police and provided talks within local schools and worked with known offenders to reduce this behaviour.
Overall, accidental residential fires accounted for 88 of the incidents. Mr McCall was also told that 75 per cent of property fires were reached by crews within 10 minutes and 87 per cent of other emergencies within 15 minutes.
Crews attended 125 collisions across the county, with four fatalities. It peaked in August where crews attended 27 collisions – largely attributed to the roads becoming busier with summer traffic.
The service has completed over 5,000 targeted home safety visits this year, more than three time the national average, to provide people with a fire safety assessment to highlight any potential hazards and give advice as to how residents can keep their homes as safe as possible from fire.
It has also conducted 731 protection audits on businesses and 352 community engagement events to provide prevention advice and educate the public.
Chief fire officer Rick Ogden also provided an update on the internal work being done to address the concerns raised by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
Mr McCall said: “The end of year performance reports gives me the opportunity to scrutinise and hold the service to account on their performance on behalf of the public.
“It has been eight months since I have taken on governance responsibility for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, and I have been impressed by the dedication and determination of all firefighters and staff to deliver an outstanding and ever improving service to the public and I look forward to continuing to work with chief fire officer, and his team, to develop and improve the service even further.”
