BRADFORD'S fire crews will target a continued reduction in house fires to curb a rise in the number of injuries and deaths over the past year, the district's commander has said.

According to figures from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS), the number of people either killed or injured in fires across the district from April 2014 to the end of March this year was 63, up from 58 the previous year.

A report on the District Risk Reduction Targets for 2014/15, due to go before the WYFRS Community Safety Committee on Friday, also shows an increase in road traffic collisions attended by the brigade, with decreases seen in the number of arson attacks, rescues, dwelling and non-domestic building fires, and malicious fire alarms.

Overall, the amount of call-outs in Bradford during 2014/15 was 5,557, down from 6,130 in 2013/14, a reduction of nine per cent.

Martin Speed, WYFRS district commander for Bradford, said a key focus would be reducing the number of dwelling fires, which fell from 318 in 2013/14, to 315 in 2014/15.

"As a brigade, our fire prevention tactics seem to be working, and have been for a number of years now," he said.

"The fire-related injuries, in the vast majority of cases, are linked to dwelling fires, and there can be big variations depending on the type of incident, for example whether the fire affects a family home.

"We have specific targets to reduce dwelling fires across the district, and our objective will be to target high-risk wards even more than we currently do.

"If we can continue to reduce the number of dwelling fires, we will bring the number of fire-related injuries down at the same time."

Within the Bradford district, aside from the rise in fire-related injuries and deaths, crews achieved all their pre-set targets for 2014/15, despite attending 135 road traffic collisions, a seven per cent increase from 126 in 2013/14.

The number of arson attacks fell from 1,716 to 1,619, a drop of six per cent, non-domestic building fires dropped eight per cent from 112 to 103, the number of rescues fell two per cent from 171 to 168, and malicious false alarms were reduced from 125 to 101, a drop of 19 per cent.

Mr Speed said the targets for 2014/15 were set using trends from baseline data collected in 2009/10, and admitted the district's new targets for 2015/16 - which include reducing the number of fire-related injuries and deaths to 54, and the number of road traffic collisions to 120 - would be "tough".

He said new staff employed by WYFRS in Bradford, including a Community Liaison Officer, and Vulnerable Persons Advocate - whose remits are to work directly in seven high-risk wards across the district - would help to continue the downward pattern of risk.

"Our targets for 2015/16 are actually deviating away from the previous gradual downward trends, and will be tough to hit," said Mr Speed.

"We will be engaging with partners such as social services, the police, and housing providers, to work in high-risk wards, and with high-risk individuals, such as those with drug or alcohol problems, or people suffering from conditions such as dementia.

"Although the targets are challenging, I am confident we have the personnel in place to reach them."