THE 'corner has been turned' in the fight against car fires after a combined initiative between the police and fire brigade.

Station officer Richard Lawrence, of Redditch Fire Station, said fire fighters were reaping the rewards of monthly meetings to discuss arson hotspots.

Between April and December 2000, fire crews attended nearly 10 deliberate car fires a month.

But from January to March, since the start of the initiative, crews had less than two call-outs a month.

The impetus for the fight against car arson came from the Redditch Community Safety Partnership.

Mr Lawrence said: "We have seen a downturn in malicious car fires in Redditch since we started meetings in January and the corner has been turned.

"We've been looking at the locations of these fires and information has been fed to police, who can target hotspots.

"The problems influence policing policy each month, for example more policing in a certain area at certain times of day."

Mr Lawrence added: "We are progressing towards reducing arson but still need people to be extremely vigilant."

Last year, Redditch crews dealt with more deliberately started car fires than any other station in the brigade.

Fire chiefs were worried about time spent dealing with these incidents, which put lives in danger.