Almost 1,000 deliberate fires were started in Shropshire in the last 12 months, figures revealed today.

It comes as an ex-police sergeant tasked with fighting fire crime in the county warned arsonists – “You will be caught”.

Derek Taylor also vowed to combat the scourge of hoax calls and arsons after being drafted into the new role of fire crime officer with Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.

New figures today showed that there were 983 deliberate fires from April 1, 2008 to March 31 this year.

Although the number of deliberate fires has fallen by about 400 on the previous year it still totalled almost three a day and almost half of all blazes during the 12 month period.

Mr Taylor warned that people who were convicted of deliberately starting fires could face a maximum of life imprisonment.

And he said hi-tech systems were also in place which could lead to people having their mobile phones barred if they were caught making hoax calls.

In his first interview the 52-year-old said: “If young people start fires, crews will have to deal with them and it could put somebody else’s life in danger.

“We’re working with police and other agencies to reduce deliberate fires and it is given a top priority. We are working to catch the people who are doing it.

“What they also don’t realise is if they get caught making malicious calls they are liable to a £5,000 fine, six months in prison, or both.

“We also have hoax calls initiatives and other schemes like that which helps us to deter offenders.

“We have the facility to record mobile phones each time somebody phones up. We can send a message saying we know that phone is being used and if it’s used again we can get network providers to get the phone barred.”

Clean sweep operations, being run with police and other organisations, are also to be carried out in parts of the county to target anti-social behaviour and ensure abandoned cars and rubbish are cleaned up to prevent people setting fire to them.

Mr Taylor, who worked with West Mercia Police for 33 years, said he was working to reduce the number of deliberate fires and hoax calls further through a number of initiatives including trying to safeguard properties, preventing fires and educating people.

By John Kirk