The amount of people injured or killed by fires in Gloucestershire has doubled over the year.
New Home Office figures show 61 people suffered non-fatal injuries as a result of fires across Gloucestershire in 2015/16. Three people had also died due to accidents, not arson.
The previous year’s figures recorded 31 non-fatal injuries and one death, a much lower statistic.
56 of the injuries were caused by accident while the remaining 5 were arson attacks.
However, according to a closely-linked source of the Fire and Rescue Services, “there have been many cutbacks in regards to staffing, so getting people to places, especially when they are on call, takes a lot longer”.
“This time last year, there would have been 16 people in the department, but it has been decreased to just the 4 of us.”
It has previously reported that all of the public services are receiving staffing cuts including the police and NHS.
“One of the reason fire crimes are increasing is due to wealth in general, more people can afford to go out and drink, causing them to leave stoves on and set fires, and a lot more restaurants are opening which obviously increases the chances of fires in kitchens.
Across England as a whole, the number of injuries caused by fires is falling although the amount of deaths are increasing.
There were 5,751 non-fatal injuries in 2015/16, compared to 5,923 in the previous 12 months.
The number of deaths went up from 195 to 229 across the same period.