Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority is the best in the country after recording the lowest ever number of fires in the county last year, according to an Audit Commission report.

The authority managed to reduce the number of blazes in the county by 36 per cent in the last five years and the number of deliberate fires by 42 per cent.

Kent also had the lowest number of deaths and injuries caused by fires for 50 years across the country.

Bill Feeley, chief fire officer for Kent Fire and Rescue praised the staff and locals for the help in bringing the numbers down.

He said: "We have achieved this with a lot of hard work by our dedicated team of firefighters and staff, but it is also thanks to the people of Kent, who have listened to our calls to improve fire safety in their homes.

"We invest a lot of time into community safety education. That concerted effort is what is paying off."

However, Mr Feely admits more must be done to reduce the number of road accidents, which occupy an increasing amount of firefighters' time.

He added: "We went to more than 1,200 last year, we go to more of these than we do fires now. And we're hugely aware that we have to work more with partners to bring these down."

The Audit Commission gave the authority the highest rating for value for money and said it had improved strongly in its use of resources and service delivery.

Its efforts to reach vulnerable groups such as older, blind and deaf people, including training some of its firefighters in sign language were also recognised.

Bryan Cope, chairman of the Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority, said: "Though we are mainly known, of course, for putting out fires, the range of our work is far greater.

"We attended around 1,200 road traffic collisions last year, dealt with cliff and water rescues, animal rescues and chemical incidents."