Staffordshire fire deaths and injuries fall by half

The number of people killed and injured in house fires in Staffordshire has almost halved in the past ten years, new figures have shown.

The number of people killed or injured in accidental fires in homes fell from 50 to 27, the fire service said.

Fires involving a property or casualties dropped by 54% to 1,465.

Staffordshire's Chief Fire Officer, Peter Dartford, put the fall down to the work the service has done on fire prevention.

The figures, comparing April 2003 - March 2004 with April 2013 - March 2014, were presented to the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

Mr Dartford said: "The proactive work that we are carrying out as a service, often with partner organisations, is really paying off and proves that prevention is at least as effective, and far better and cheaper than cure."

The chairman of the fire authority, Len Bloomer, put the fall down to the way the service has "changed and modernised its approach" over the past decade.