FIREFIGHTERS have been working with police forensic experts to help investigate the causes of fires.

In the first programme of its kind, fire crews from Hampshire's Arson Reduction Unit joined forces with the crime scene investigation (CSI) team to improve methods of gathering evidence from the scenes of suspected arson attacks.

In a three-day training exercise at Hampshire Fire and Rescue head-quarters in Eastleigh, the two teams worked together to examine the remains of three burned out buildings.

Both fire and police teams spent time in the classrooms learning the latest detection theories before putting them into practice.

Each of the different scenes were set alight in a controlled burning before being extinguished by fire fighters. The teams then had to work out which of the three fires had been started deliberately.

Arson Reduction and Fire Investigation manager Steve Quinn said the pilot programme had been a success for both services, adding: "We are working towards the development of an innovative multi-agency fire and arson investigation training scheme which combines the specialist skills of the police CSI with the skills of the fire service specialist fire investigators.

"Our ultimate goal is to utilise advances in the removal of criminal evidence at fire scenes to develop our interagency fire and arson investigation capacity.

"This will lead to improvements in detection and conviction of offenders."