The fire service should concentrate more on preventing blazes, MPs have said.

Following last year's battle between fire fighters and the government, a committee of MPs warned on Friday that the service must take a more modern approach.

The local government select committee backed the government's plans to change the emphasis of the way fire fighters work.

The MPs argued that in half of all call-outs, lives are lost long before fire fighters are even at the scene.

"The Fire Service has to change from putting out fires to preventing fires occurring," said committee chairman and Labour MP for Denton and Reddish Andrew Bennett.

"Since 50 per cent of fire fatalities are dead before the Fire Service is even called, we welcome the government's proposal to place greater emphasis on the prevention of fire."

The committee broadly welcomed government reforms which will be in the Fire and Rescue Services Bill.

The Fire Brigade Union fought the government last year over a pay deal and plans to modernise the service.

There came a warning from the committee to ministers that fire chiefs at local level would need backing to push the government's agenda through.

"The Service needs strong political leadership to ensure successful implementation and management of change during a potentially very turbulent period," MPs said.

"Government must lead by example, and must provide support at local level to ensure implementation of reform, even in the face of confrontation."

The committee also called for sprinkler systems to be mandatory on some types of new buildings such as schools, houses of multiple occupation and homes for the elderly.

"We strongly recommend that in this year's revision of the building regulations, ministers introduce a requirement for sprinklers to be fitted to all new build properties of these types, as this would have more impact on public and fire fighter safety, than any other proposal in the White Paper," the report said.