The number of fires every year in Redbridge and Waltham Forest have almost halved since 2000, new figures show.

The fire census, released yesterday (July 30) shows that throughout London the amount of fires a year went down from 48,554 in 2000 to 19,621 in 2014.

In Redbridge, incidents a year went down from 1,057 to 560 in those 14 years.

The borough saw three people dying in fires in 2000, with one dying last year.

At the turn of the millennium, a total of 33 were injured, down to 26.

A similar decline was seen in Waltham Forest, where incidents went down from 1,160 to 585.

In the borough, three people died in fires in 2000 but three died last year too.

Though the amount of people injured went down from 52 to 34.

This decline is despite the population of London increasing by 1.3 million since the turn of the millennium.

London fire commissioner Ron Dobson said: "We use this incredible wealth of data to target fire prevention and community safety work.

“The downward trend in fires is a huge credit to our staff and the public for acting on our life saving advice.

"The more information we can give about how, where and why fires happen will undoubtedly greater educate Londoners to the risks that still exist and hopefully save their lives.

"We are winning the battle but the war is far from over so we cannot became complacent.

"For the small number of fires smoking and candles cause they still cause a disproportionally high level of deaths especially with elderly people and we will continue our target approach to reduce fires and deaths further."