More than two vehicles are deliberately torched in West Yorkshire every day.

New figures from the Home Office have revealed that West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) were called out to deliberate vehicle fires on 877 occasions in 2017/18.

That’s down from 1,020 the year before, but remains one of the highest numbers of deliberate car fires ever recorded in our region.

It also means that two in every three vehicle fires that the service attended in West Yorkshire in the last year were deliberate.

Nationally, firefighters were called out to 11,157 deliberate vehicle fires in 2017/18, again down slightly from 11,821 the year before.

In the majority of cases those vehicles were cars (6,480), although other popular targets included motorcycles (2,557).

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Other vehicles that were regularly attacked included vans (998), lorries (77), and the occasional bus (17).

In total, 16 people were killed in deliberate vehicle fires in the last year, and a further 76 were seriously injured.

The figures come at a time when fire services up and down the country are dealing with significant cuts to their workforce.

According to the Fire Brigade Union, since 2010 West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service have lost a third of their firefighters - a drop of 572 in total.

West Yorkshire Fire Service's Chris Kirby.

Chris Kirby, WYFRS's Area Manager for Service Delivery said: “While firefighters are attending a car fire they are not available to attend potentially more serious incidents.

“We try to educate people on the dangers of arson and the importance of firefighters remaining available to protect people’s lives and homes.

“We work closely with West Yorkshire Police to investigate the cause of vehicle fires and successful prosecutions should help deter people from this kind of reckless activity.”