ARSONISTS who destroy cars and homes in North Yorkshire are being targeted by a new initiative being launched in York next month.

For the first time North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has a dedicated arson co-ordinator, former firefighter Mick Brighton, to tackle the growing problem of deliberate fires in the county.

According to the service around 40 per cent of all fires in North Yorkshire involve arson - directing resources away from genuine emergencies and endangering the lives of the public and firefighters.

And car fires top the list, with hotspots identified in York, Selby and Eastfield in Scarborough.

North Yorkshire Fire Service has been awarded £30,000 a year for three years from the National Arson Control Forum, a Home Office department, to set up a partnership approach to the problem.

The Arson Project Steering Group will be launched at the Guildhall in York on March 8 including representatives from North Yorkshire Police, City of York Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Youth Offending Teams and the Probation Service.

Assistant Divisional Officer Graham Buckle said: "Compared with Tyne and Wear and other brigades it's not a massive problem here, but if we tackle it now we can prevent it growing further.

"Our biggest problem is car fires, 60 per cent of all car fires within the county are deliberate.

"What our arson co-ordinator is working on is a scheme where any of the agencies involved can contact a central number and get abandoned cars removed very quickly so they don't become a target.

"At the moment a seven day notice is posted by the council but instead they could be held in secure storage for the statutory seven day period."

The problem of burnt out cars has become increasingly serious in Tang Hall in York, and the Walmgate Ward is being targeted first by the initiative.

As many as 12 cars at one time have been dumped in Tang Hall. In the latest incident a car crashed through the railings of the playing fields off Fifth Avenue and Melrosegate, before being set on fire.

David Wilson, chairman of the Tang Hall Residents' Association, lives opposite the playing fields and was woken by the noise.

He said: "How they got away without hurting themselves I don't know. The problem has been mentioned to me and it does concern me."

Walmgate Ward councillor Derek Smallwood said there had already been a scheme to encourage residents of the ward to install fire alarms in their homes and he said the whole community would benefit from this new joint strategy.

He said: "Every time we have to clear things like that (burnt out cars) it's costing us money, and that means the tax payer."

Updated: 09:31 Thursday, February 14, 2002