NEW figures show there are more arson attacks in Burnley more than most other places in Lancashire.

Fire station commanders said they were employing a number of measures to tackle the challenge head-on.

In Blackburn with Darwen, new figures show there were 120 arson attacks on buildings last year. Burnley was fourth highest with 92, Hyndburn sixth with 79, Pendle eighth with 36 and Rossendale 10th with 27.

Ribble Valley came bottom of Lancashire's 14 districts with seven arson attacks.

Statistics also show that derelict buildings and aband-oned vehicles were other favourite targets of Lancashire firebugs, as was fencing, trees and street lamps.

A neighbourhood in Higher Croft and part of Mill Hill, both Blackburn, are regarded as being the third and fourth worst for minor fires respectively.

Parts of Trinity ward in Burnley are in the top 10 worst places for arson in buildings, and deliberate secondary' torching of things such as grass, bins and cars.

Firefighters based at Blackburn's Byrom Street station and the Union Street station in Darwen, and Burnley and Padiham stations, already have their work cut out.

The four town stations deal with more fires than any of their Lancashire counterparts, and a higher proportion of false alarms and other incidents such as road collisions, chemical leaks and floodings.

Gary Monk, station comm-ander at Blackburn, said a multi-agency meeting took place last week, focusing on how rubbish can be dealt with and removed more efficiently, reducing the risk of it becoming an arson target.

He said: "If you look at the size of a town like Blackburn, its density and levels of depriv-ation, all these factors taken together can contribute to the problem."

An new fire safety officer has been appointed to investigate the worst locations for arson and the motivation for arsonists.