ARSON attacks have soared by a staggering 32 per cent in York and North Yorkshire - the highest increase in the country.

The man charged with combating the scourge in the county today predicted the situation was likely to get worse.

Government figures reveal that the number of malicious blazes in North Yorkshire increased from 772 in September 2001, to 1,022 in September 2002.

The rocketing arson rate has undermined fire service efforts to reduce the number of blazes in the county.

York has seen a recent rise in large-scale arson attacks. The Costcutter store at Dunnington was gutted last month after arsonists set a rubbish skip alight and the fire spread.

Mick Brighton, North Yorkshire's arson reduction officer, said the figures were "extremely worrying".

He said the high increase in arson cases in North Yorkshire was largely due to "imported fires".

"We're seeing people from West Yorkshire and Cleveland using our region's wide open spaces to abandon cars and burn them out," he said.

"The increase is part and parcel of the trend we're seeing across the country.

"Fire seems to be a weapon of choice to many people in dealing with their problems. They should be put away for a very long time.

"I think the situation will get worse before it gets better."

Firefighters, who have been told to focus on fire prevention advice by Ministers, managed to cut the number of accidental blazes in North Yorkshire by eight per cent, according to figures.

In the 12 months to September last year, there were 475 accidental fires compared with 519 in the previous year.

But the total number of blazes increased by six per cent from 3,755 to 3,997.

Nationally, firefighters tackled 529,420 fires in total compared with 515,614 a year earlier - up three per cent.

Arson attacks rose five per cent - from 117,187 to 123,631.

According to information released by the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister, the dramatic increase was almost entirely explained by a huge rise in burnt-out vehicles.

Fire deaths increased over the 12-month period from 578 to 612.

The figures do not cover the months on which the fire service was hit by strikes and industrial action at the turn of 2002/3.

Updated: 10:42 Thursday, August 07, 2003