THE number of fires have dropped 12 per cent over the last year - falling to a low of 1,733.

A new annual report from Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has revealed how the tally of blazes is now at its lowest level since 2005 across the two counties.

The figure includes 933 'primary' fires, incidents involving property, people or those which needed five engines or more, 624 smaller 'secondary' ones in outdoor locations and 176 chimney fires.

The drop, which is being put down to greater awareness of the dangers of fire, comes at a time of unprecedented pressure on the service, with 44 jobs facing the axe by 2020 due to reduced Government funding.

To get around some of the problems with funding crews have been asked to volunteer to be on duty 24 hours, spending 12 hours of the day on call if needed.

The annual report also reveals how the number of deaths involving road traffic collisions has doubled, from eight to 17.

Despite that death rate the overall number of road crashes has remained broadly the same, from 565 in the previous year to 573 over the last 12 months.

Fire crews also dealt with 93 flooding incidents, a 17 per cent drop on the previous year of 113, and 83 calls to help animals, down from 19 per cent from 103.

There were 3,025 false alarm calls made to fire crews over the last year, a five per cent drop on 2013/14 when it stood at 3,177.

Once again the vast majority of those, more than 2,200, were for automatic alarms that sounded off accidentally when buildings were empty.

The report also reveals how the average firefighter in Worcestershire and Herefordshire took 5.3 days off sick last year, which is the third lowest figure in the UK when comparing 34 different parts of the country.

The national average is more than double that, at 12 days per firefighter.

The report has been accepted by the fire authority, with chairman Councillor Derek Prodger saying he is encouraged by it.

He said: "I've been on the authority 20-odd years and never know it like this, people are far more cautious these days and that's good.

"We do a lot of work in educating the public but it's a bit of both, people don't smoke as much in their houses or garden and all that makes a difference."

Councillor Richard Udall, from the fire authority's Labour group, said: "It is good news that fires are down, and shows all the work put into fire safety is working.

"Within the service a lot of work is put into making sure people have alarms, and that children and the wider community know about the dangers.

"But we must remain vigilant."

To see how the fire service has performed across the two counties over the last year in further detail click HERE.

* Members of the fire authority have voted to freeze their allowances again, meaning each councillor on the 25-member body gets a basic of £1,163.

Councillor Prodger gets a top-up of £9,032 in his role as chairman.