NORTH Yorkshire's fire and rescue service has been praised by the Audit Commission and is stepping up action to reduce the number of deaths caused by fire.
In a report to tomorrow's meeting of the authority at Easingwold, the chairman, county councillor Geoff Rennie, and Eric Clark, the chief fire officer, will say the aim of its ten-year plan is to ensure more people are saved thanks to the work of the service.
"This will be due to the service having significantly reduced the likelihood and severity of fire and other emergencies," the report says.
"We will achieve this through the dedication of our staff working in partnership with other agencies in the community".
In its performance plan, the service's safety targets include reducing the number of accidental deaths and injuries from fire by 25 per cent by 2009, and by 40 per cent by 2014 - in each case, a year ahead of government targets.
The Audit Commission report into the service said: "The key message from the commission is that the brigade is making sound progress with the modernisation agenda, with clear evidence of member and officer commitment to required changes."
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