PROACTIVE firefighting has resulted in the lowest number of deliberate and accidental fires being reported in Lancashire Fire and Rescue's history.

The county has seen a 24 percent drop in incidents involving deliberate fires to houses and vehicles in 2007 when compared to last year's figures.

There was a 12.5 per cent decrease in deaths as a result of fires and a 10.4 per cent reduction in accidental property fires in 2007-2008.

However, there was an 1.7 per cent increase in the number of people injured as a result of the fires.

Lancashire's Chief Fire Officer, Peter Holland, said the success was due to the hard work of both operational and community fire safety staff.