Firefighters in Bradford have smashed a target and slashed the number of arson attacks across the district by about 40 per cent.

Crews have been working with partner organisations, including West Yorkshire Police, to cut the number of fires started deliberately in the area, from 2,406 in 2011/12 to 1,509 in 2012/13.

A report to Yorkshire Fire Authority’s community safety committee revealed firefighters had been expecting the number of arson attacks to increase during the year, with a target of tackling 2,545 deliberate blazes last year.

But it said: “The Bradford district has exceeded performance against the target set for arson by 40 per cent. The continued work of the prevention teams and operational personnel has seen the number of such incidents reduce significantly. Close working relationships with partner agencies continues to contribute to this success.”

The document, which examined the district’s performance in a number of areas, also shows the ‘total activity’ of crews had reduced, with firefighters attending 5,991 incidents last year, compared with a target of 8,125 – a reduction of 26 per cent.

However, they narrowly failed to meet their target for the number of house fires in the district. Crews were set a target of attending 337 incidents, but were called to 346.

The report says: “This is in part down to the long, cold winter period. February and March 2013 both featured above average dwelling fire occurrences. In addition, an arsonist in Keighley’s station area was individually responsible for a number of dwelling fires prior to arrest.”

It also showed fireghters attended 107 fires at unoccupied buildings in the district, above a target of 105.

The document said: “With the high number of unoccupied buildings in Bradford, this had the potential to be a significant problem.

“While we are just failing to meet our target the results are still promising given the scale of the challenge in Bradford.

The work of the fire service’s Arson Task Force has previously been credited for a falling number in attacks across the district.

That department was merged with a prevention team as part of a force-wide restructure of services last year, although its role is the same.