Malicious fires on the increase

Arson is the cause of more than one in five hotel and catering fires, according to government figures out today.

The latest UK statistics, covering the year 2001, show 21% of fires on hospitality premises were malicious or suspicious.

This is one percentage point higher than in 2000, when there were 311 malicious fires in hotels and boarding houses and 789 malicious fires in restaurants, cafés, pubs and similar buildings. There is no equivalent breakdown of the 2001 figures.

Restaurants, cafés, pubs and similar premises remain one of the most likely types of building to suffer a fire, be it accidental or deliberate, the statistics show. And the number of incidents is on the rise.

There were 3,395 fires in restaurants and similar establishments during 2001, 8% of the total number of fires in buildings other than private dwellings. This represents an 8% increase on 2000.

In hotels and boarding houses there were 2,453 fires during 2001. This was up by 1% on 2000.