Firefighters in North Ayrshire attended 1,516 incidents between April 1 and September 30.

This is unchanged from last year. There were also 422 primary and secondary fires, down seven per cent from a year ago.

There were also 877 false alarms, which is three per cent up on last year, Ian McMeekin, area commander, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, revealed at Monday’s meeting of the North Ayrshire Police and Fire and Rescue Committee.

There was also one fire casualty, which is 75 per cent down on last year.

The fire service have carried out some 461 home fire safety visits, with 33 per cent of those considered risks.

North Ayrshire had the lowest number of fire casualties of all the Ayrshire authorities, with 0.07 per 10,000 of the population.

False alarms in houses are still the highest at 28.63 per cent, making up 19.06 per cent of the total number of incidents.

The highest number of incidents per 10,000 of the population was in Ardrossan with 5.2.

There were some 227 incidents of deliberate fire setting, with the highest number of those 81 in Saltcoats and Stevenston while unwanted fire alarm signals totalled 204 and Irvine South had the highest, 46.

The number of accidental fire casualties has reduced from 21 in 2018-19 to one for the first half of 2023-24.

The number of non-domestic fires went up from 14 to 23 in the first six months, compared to last year. The highest numbers were in North Coast and Stevenston, which each recorded six.