ARSON attacks in Gwent are down by over a third.

The region saw a huge drop in deliberate fires from 8,199 in 2003, to 5,255 last year - a fall of 35.9%.

Firefighters think campaigns aimed at cutting arson are behind the success, but 88% of all fires are still started deliberately.

The total number of fires was also down by 33.6% - from 9,202 in 2003, to 6,112 in 2004.

Senior Divisional Officer Kevin Barry said: "It is encouraging to see that the number has significantly dropped.

"Fire crews that are responding to fires that have been deliberately lit could be delayed in responding to real emergency situations, such as house fires and road traffic accidents."

Secondary fires on grassland, in refuse, derelict buildings, vehicles, and outdoor structures saw a huge drop of 41.1% to 3,960 fires in Gwent in 2004, and by 53.4% in Blaenau Gwent, from 1,364 fires to 635.

The region was plagued by grass and forest fires in 2003, and South Wales Fire Service started campaigns targeting youths.

Mr Barry said: "In 2004 a number of successful initiatives were carried out to ensure that the massive grass fires experienced in the Wattsville area in 2003 were not repeated last year.

"Firefighters have been regularly visiting local schools, delivering programmes to pupils of all ages about all aspects of fire safety, such as the dangers of making malicious 999 calls."

The service also ran a rap music competition against arson and ran adverts in Gwent cinemas.

The number of hoax calls in Gwent also fell from 507 in 2003, to 451 in 2004, a drop of 11%. Hoax calls cost the service almost £500,000 last year.

In April 2003 a huge forest fire that was started deliberately resulted in dozens of people being evacuated from their homes in the Valleys village of Wattsville.

Ty Hafod Tudor, a care home for adults with learning disabilities, was within yards of being burnt to the ground.

The building was saved through the efforts of a team of firefighters and owner Tony Edwards.

Mr Edwards said he was delighted to hear the number of arson attacks had dropped considerably.