FIRE officers are struggling to educate young people about the dangers of starting fires after an increase in the number of malicious blazes in Country Durham.

Since last year there has been a 22 per cent increase in malicious fires, with a total of 784 recorded.

This increase has been blamed on the summer's hot weather which, it is thought, encouraged young people to start fires, which can then get out of control.

Chief fire officer George Herbert said: "These periods will always cause an increase in both malicious and deliberate and secondary fires.

"Community Fire Safety will continue to target schools as a method of dissuading children from starting such fires."

The figures have been published as part of the County Durham and Darlington performance indicators for the year. They also showed that there has been an increase in the number of injuries from accidental house fires even though the number of house fires has fallen.

CO Herbert said this could be because many fires occurred in homes where more than one person live and were effected by smoke inhalation or heat.

To help people get to safety as soon as possible, more than 1,100 fire alarms were issued by the fire brigade during the past year and 361 were actually fitted by officers to help the elderly and infirm.

CO Herbert said: "The number of home safety checks continue to increase as the brigade's pro-active approach to community safety develops."

Despite an increase in the number of calls taken by the fire control staff, the time taken to answer the calls has fallen slightly.