THE number of blazes tackled by firefighters in Wyre Forest's three towns rose over a three-month period.

There was better news over false alarms, which fell during the same time.

Statistics for Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, which covers the district, reflected incidents between the beginning of January and the end of March this year.

There were 73 fires in Kidderminster in the first three months of the year, while there had been 50 in the previous three months.

It was a similar story in Stourport and Bewdley, which had 57 and 10, respectively, in the latest figures, compared with 28 and eight.

False alarms were down to 103 from 145 in Kidderminster, 36 from 39 in Stourport and seven from nine in Bewdley.