Dramatic footage of fires, rescues and road accidents in the Bradford district is being snapped up by brigades across country.

The video films are recorded on state-of-the-art Silent Witness 'spy cameras' - fitted to 28 of West Yorkshire's 60 front-line fire engines.

The cameras were installed as a way of filming thugs who attack appliances and firefighters, and to pick out arsonists at the scene of a blaze. But the pioneering system - the only one of its kind in Britain - is also proving to be a useful training device.

The brigade's visual services manager, Brian Saville, said: "We can use the footage to share good practice and highlight any areas which could have been dealt with differently.

"It's a visual training package using actual events rather than exercises. In the past we would have relied on written reports of incidents, but the firefighters are extremely busy and can't remember every detail."

The Silent Witness system, which has been developed in West Yorkshire and costs about £1,700 per appliance, has generated a lot of interest from other brigades.

Mr Saville said: "A picture can tell a thousand words and can be understood in any language.

"The videos provide information on the type of incident, buildings involved, how fires react to certain materials and so on."

The footage has also been requested by insurance companies investigating fire damage claims.

The cameras were first installed as a pilot scheme in 1997. Since then the system has been extended across the county, generating more than 3,000 minutes of video footage.

It has been such a success that the brigade is seeking extra sponsorship in the coming year to install a further nine cameras on front-line appliances.

And work has already started on upgrading the technology to allow footage to be relayed live to the brigade's central control room in Birkenshaw.

Mr Saville said: "The ideal situation is to be able to transmit live pictures so we can assess situation as it happens. I believe we are only two or three years away from it becoming a reality."

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