THE number of people rescued by firefighters has hit an all-time high in the North West, with more than 150 people a month being saved from car crashes and fires.

The new figures, released by the Fire Brigades Union are the first statistics on fire service rescues ever published.

The Government has its own figures but they are not made public.

The figures show record numbers of people are being rescued, but the FBU said the actual total could be far higher because they did not include frescues from flooding, terror attacks, building collapses, and a range of other 999 incidents.

Regional FBU secretary Kevin Brown said: “The fire service today is an all-round emergency response and rescue service.

“The figures illustrate why the public has such high confidence in the fire service.

"They also under-score the importance of the front-line rescue capability in saving lives. Across the North West fire crews are rescuing over 100 people a month from a range of potentially lethal 999 emergencies.

“It is now very clear that the ‘fire’ service is a critical all-round local emergency rescue service. Our emergency rescue role covers fires, but now extends much further into rope rescues, water rescues, building collapse, terrorist attacks, and a range of other emergency incidents.”

The statistics show that on average 150 people are rescued from car crashes and fires in the north west every month.

They also show 7,082 people were rescued from fires in the region in the period 1997-2006, the 10 most recent years for which data is available.