THE fire service is called out to schools in Warrington around 100 times a year, the Warrington Guardian can reveal.

Since 2004 Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has been called to schools in the borough 490 times, though fire bosses say calls to schools are not considered to be a problem area.

The figures show a slight but steady decrease year on year.

Of the 490 call outs since 2004, only 27 were actual fires when they arrived, of which nine were started deliberately.

Unattended cookers and chip pans, electrical appliances, cables and installations, static discharge, gas appliances and heat being conducted caused the accidental fires.

The only fire in a school so far this year was deliberately started, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show.

That fire was at St Ann’s CE Primary School in Orford at the end of January, when vandals set alight a classroom bin in the early hours of the morning.

The worst offending school was William Beamont High School, which firefighters have been called to 54 times since 2004.

They have not been called to that school in 2009, however.

Grappenhall Hall Special School has seen 42 call outs since 2004, with two so far in 2009.

St Gregory’s High School was the third worst with 26 call outs, but none in 2009.

The worst offending primary school was Beamont Community Primary School, with 18 call outs.

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Barry Rose, Warrington Fire Station’s station manager, said the preventative work firefighters did in schools was working, as the number of call outs had fallen each year.

Fires in schools are not considered a problem, he said, and is not an area the service is particularly targeting.

Of the 490 call outs since 2004, 98 were malicious false alarms, calls that take firefighters out of action while they check premises.

“If people do make a malicious phone call to the fire service it is traced and we can take action,” said Mr Rose.

Nuisance phone numbers can be blocked and when calls are traced to a house then the police will prosecute, he added.

The service has also been called to rescue people on six occasions.