THE North-East is to receive £165,000 in government cash to help tackle the region's spiralling arson problem.

Arsonists are responsible for more than half the blazes tackled in the region, so County Durham and Darlington, and Tyne and Wear brigades, are to receive the cash to train fire officers to specialise in arson attacks.

County Durham and Darlington will get £30,00 to set up an arson task force - inspired by a similar scheme in Newcastle that has reduced arson attacks on property by 23 per cent.

As part of the Government's £1.1m national initiative, Tyne and Wear brigade will receive £60,000 to boost its South Tyneside arson task force, while the North-East Partnership gets £75,000 to set up an arson solving model - a statistical project that identifies arson trends in the region.

County Durham and Darlington Fire Brigade says more than 90 per cent of secondary fires - involving rubbish, grass and waste ground - are started deliberately. It also emerged that it had tackled 1,200 more secondary blazes by the end of March than it did in 2001.

Dave Turnbull, the brigade's fire officer in community fire safety, said: "I would say the North-East is worst than most.

"Looking at hoax calls and arson incidents, we have one of the worst records in the country, and County Durham and Darlington is also among the top ten counties for accidental house fires.

"A lot of the culprits tend to be children who think they have nothing else to do. It tends to start with playing with matches and, before long, it is one of those matches that could destroy someone's building or life."

Government guidelines say fire brigades have to cut the amount of arson fires in their totals to 30 per cent.

Mr Turnbull explained how the cash will help them get closer to that target.

"It will allow us to target dedicated people committed solely to tackling arson.

"It is a sad state of affairs that we are having to do this, but we will make in-roads."