BURNLEY'S growing arson problem is to be tackled by a new combined team of fire and police officers.

The Arson Reduction Team will look at ways of sharing information and forming strategies to pour cold water on a crime which is on the rise.

The team was officially unveiled at Burnley Fire Station yesterday.

Station Officer Rick Percival, said: "Last year, there were 1,064 fires deliberately started in Burnley, with a direct cost of £200,000.

"That means that fires in skips and wheelie bins and rubbish fires went up by 47 per cent on the previous year and fires in private dwellings, commercial properties and in cars went up by 22 per cent.

"It is a very large increase, probably the largest increase in any of the shire fire authorities, if not the metropolitan ones."

DC Graham Jones, of Lancashire Constabulary, is a partner in the team. He said: "We are looking at integrating recording systems and speeding up the ways we combat arson.

"Following the Task Force report, the Fire Reduction Team was established which is a local initiative that will work with the police, the Community Wardens and communities themselves and local councils.

"We are a similar body that will identify problem areas and find solutions. Working with local communities will go a long way towards solving some of the local issues that we have in Burnley."

Those solutions could include removal of rubbish from target areas and the possible placing of skips by the council.

Burnley Inspector John Clucas, said: "We have put some posters up in the Burnley Wood area and some of our officers will be meeting with people from the fire and rescue service to plan a coordinated response to the unacceptably high levels of fires in terraced property."