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SURELY everyone knows it is foolish to play with fire? Well, apparently not in Southampton.

The city is officially the arson capital of Hampshire.

Firefighters are having to deal with more than 1,000 arsons every year in Southampton - that's nearly three a day.

The majority of cases may be minor and do not result in serious harm or injury, but last month 23 people had to be rescued from a block of flats when a suspected arson attack resulted in a lethal fireball shooting up the stairwell after a motorbike engine caught alight.

This latest incident, in Wimpson Lane, Millbrook, was the culmination of a long list of 1,009 arsons since April 2007. In Portsmouth, there were almost half that number with 549 arsons in the past year.

Arson education and prevention is therefore at the top of the list of priorities for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service over the next three years, especially in Southampton, as outlined in the organisation's newly-published 2008-2011 plan.

Steve Pegler, the service's group manager for the city, said: "Early evening is a peak time for arsons and Friday to Monday are the peak days of the week.

Determined' "We have a higher incidence of arson than Portsmouth and I am determined to reduce arson in Southampton - it's far too high here.

"I really don't know what the reason is behind the high number of arsons in Southampton - it's a difficult one to quantify."

Steve Hamm, pictured, area manager responsible for Southampton and the New Forest, added: "Across the country, about two-thirds of all fires are arson, which puts it in perspective. But in Hampshire the big urban areas are where arson is a problem, especially in Southampton.

"There are also areas of the New Forest where arson is a problem, mainly around the Waterside, and we are targeting work in these areas."

More education days, aimed at youths known to have engaged in arson, are planned for the next three years. A new community liaison team in Southampton will also work to drive down the menace of arson.

A youth interaction programme is already up and running, offering motorbike maintenance courses and teaching teenagers the consequences of fire. Between now and 2011, the public face of the fire service will also be changing.

More retained firefighters, diversity liaison officers to bridge cultural gaps, help from volunteers and more first response vehicles are planned for Hampshire.

Southampton has already become the first city in Hampshire and one of the first in England to introduce a first response fire engine.

The vehicle and its crew, based at Redbridge fire station, respond to smaller incidents, freeing up the main fire engines for more major incidents.

"It is working very well," said Mr Hamm. "There is certainly scope for more first response fire engines.

"It has also enabled us to re-deploy a fire engine from Redbridge to St Mary's, which is now crewed on a retained basis, bringing a retained crew to the city for the first time."

More fire home safety visits - 300 a month in Southampton itself - are planned for the next three years, along with relationship building between the fire service and local communities.

Diversity liaison officers will also be trained up. Mr Pegler said: "A watch might experience problems communicating with a community, so this officer would be trained to give guidance on how to best do that. Community safety is our big push."

Deaths Mr Hamm added: "One of the biggest challenges we face is being able to reach out into the community and work with other agencies to reduce deaths and injuries from fires.

"The challenge is finding innovative ways to reach the groups most difficult to reach. We have an expectation from the Government now that we work with police, schools, health authorities and other organisations to make areas safer.

"We are aware there are a lot of volunteer groups and organisations that have really good contacts with communities. We plan to work with volunteers in getting our messages to community groups."

Finally, reducing the fire service's carbon footprint is outlined as a priority before 2011.

"We run a fleet of more than 100 vehicles and have about 50 buildings," said Mr Hamm. "But equally important is the environmental impact of fires.

"In some cases, fires would have been allowed to burn out themselves in the past, but that is often not appropriate for environmental reasons now.

"We also now carry equipment on our engines provided by the Environment Agency, enabling us to block drains if we need to, and we are looking into reusing water that is contaminated after putting out a fire."

He added: "It is an absolute certainty that the presence of the fire service in communities will continue to increase over the next three years.

"Ten years ago, the fire service was represented by buildings with red doors that only opened when a fire engine came out. We have moved away from that and are proactively engaging in communities. That can only increase."

11:55am Friday 18th April 2008

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