AN elite fire investigation team has been set up in Yorkshire and Humberside.
The team will investigate complex or high profile incidents ranging from explosions through to major arsons.
Humberside, West, North and South Yorkshire fire services already have fire investigators who work alongside the police.
Now, the four fire authorities have got together to launch the region's own fire investigation team that can share resources and develop the training for other fire officers in the region.
Humberside's Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Frank Duffield, is chairman of the Common Services Group which includes the Regional Fire Investigation Team.
He said: "In responding to the requirements of the National Framework for the Fire Service, we identified the need to introduce co-ordinated investigative action, new training systems and data-sharing protocols to address the issue of the increasing number of deliberate fires and relatively few convictions.
"The regional group will assist in complex criminal proceedings and we can then target future multi-agency work at reducing the causes we identify."
