SHOCK new figures show that two-thirds of fires in Waltham Forest last year were started deliberately.
Figures released in a report by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority reveal that 66 per cent of blazes in the borough 1,175 out of a total of 1,769 fires were "non accidental".
These are a mixture of fires deemed as arson and blazes started deliberately that are not considered to be arson including setting fire to an abandoned car or rubbish left in a public place, according to guidelines set by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
The authority's best value plan also highlights that there were 1,172 hoax and automatic fire alarm calls and there were two fire deaths between April 2003 and March 2004.
These were of brother and sister Phillip Smith, five, and Alexandra Smith, three, who died after fire ripped through their home in Sanderstead Road on the Leyton/Walthamstow border in March.
In a bid to tackle hoax calls and arson, firefighters in Waltham Forest have been working in schools to spread fire safety messages and have also been working with police, youth offending teams, social services and other agencies to try and stop youngsters from starting fires.
One scheme, which was piloted in Waltham Forest, is the Prison? Me? No Way initiative. The borough has been given £70,000 Government funding to run it for another three years and sees prison officers, in partnership with the fire brigade, go into secondary schools for a day and treat a year group as prisoners.
Hoax calls and arson are topics focused on during the day and youngsters are shown the consequences of these actions.
Chris Drew, station commander for Leytonstone and Chingford fire stations, said: "We want to get these hoax calls and fire figures down.
"They are a drain on our resources and people don't think that what may seem like a prank or a joke can ultimately put people's lives at risk.
"We have also been working with the council closely to tackle the problem of abandoned cars, which are often targeted by arsonists."
He added that the Juvenile Firesetters Intervention Scheme is also helping to try and bring hoax calls and non-accidental fire figures down.
Under this initiative, volunteers from within the fire brigade give up their time to visit potential young firestarters in their home, with their parents' consent, and talk to them about their actions.
London Fire Brigade has also taken part in the BT Hoax Calls campaign for the last two years. Fire chiefs had to nominate the payphone kiosks where the highest number of hoax calls were made from and anti-hoax calls posters were displayed there. This saw a 77 per cent reduction in hoax calls from these targeted boxes.
Across London, a new code of practice drawn up between emergency services and mobile phone companies has seen 334 mobile phones disconnected and 60 cases reported to police between August 2001 and September 2003.
