Blaze deaths falling

Jan 31 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

NEW figures show fire deaths at their lowest level for 50 years.

Today’s Audit Commission report shows that the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority is improving.

Fire services are rated between one and four.

West Yorkshire was awarded a two for 2007, meaning the service is improving adequately.

Commission chairman Michael O’Higgins thinks the nationwide picture is promising.

He said: “This assessments reveals a positive picture of firefighting across England, with fewer fires taking place across the country and deaths from fires at their lowest levels in 50 years.

“This demonstrates the time and effort that fire authorities have put into prevention work over the last few years and the dramatic impact this can have by tackling the cause of fires, rather than the effect.

“For fire services to continue to improve we need to see even greater targeting of resources at vulnerable communities and we will need to address the lack of diversity in the fire workforce.

“This is important if fire services are to effectively communicate messages about safety and prevention to local people and reach people from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, some of whom are at high risk from fire deaths, with those messages.”