THE number of malicious fires has doubled over the past decade, according to figures released yesterday.

In that period it was estimated that such blazes started deliberately in the North-East cost the fire brigade the equivalent of £28m to deal with.

The Government-led Arson Control Forum has revealed that crimes such as joy-riding and insurance fraud are the reasons behind nearly half all burned-out vehicles. Young people are responsible for more than a third of all arson attacks.

Arson is the biggest cause of major fires in the country with brigades reporting more than 100,000 incidents in the past year.

The forum commissioned research which found that malicious fires can be attributed to either youth disorder such as vandalism, revenge attacks, mental illness, personality disorders or criminal motives.

Community safety manager at Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue, Dave Turnbull, said: "The cost of each call out has been estimated at about £1,100, so you can equate all those nuisance fires to about £28m throughout the North-East."