CHILDREN as young as five started hundreds of house fires in Lancashire last year, seriously injuring dozens of people and causing millions of pounds of damage, Fire Brigade officials have revealed.

And officers believe that children were responsible for hundreds more blazes but could not find conclusive proof.

The figures were revealed as bosses at Lancashire Fire Brigade concerned about the increasing numbers of young arsonists, announced a new safety campaign.

The brigade is planning to more than double the number of officers who are specially trained to deal with youngsters who have a history of starting fires.

A survey of incidents across Lancashire has revealed 270 fires were started by youngsters in the last 12 months.

The blazes resulted in 38 people being seriously injured and more than 115 properties being badly damaged or destroyed.

And over the last year just under 100 youngsters had to be treated in the special burns unit at the Royal Preston Hospital after being caught up in fires started they had started.

Fire chiefs say the problem tends to be centred in East Lancashire's towns where there is a large concentration of low income households and poor housing. A seminar on the problem is being held at the brigade's training centre near Chorley next month..

Lancashire's new chief fire officer Peter Holland will be joined by Home Office officials, psychologists and medics to launch the Fire Awareness Child Education campaign.

George Martin, a fire safety officer based at Blackburn, said: "Children playing with fire is one of the main causes of many of the incidents we are called out to. This has been a hidden problem for some time and we have decided to do something about it.

"Research has shown that the problem if it is not arrested it can often stretch into adulthood.

"But we find in 95 per cent of cases where we talk to children they do not get involved in starting fires again."

The catalogue of incidents in East Lancashire included firefighters who blasted children for starting a series of fires in skips close to shops in Clayton-le-Moors last summer.

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