Cars destroyed in train station arson attack
Fire crews in Newbury attended a suspected arson attack at a Railway Station in Thatcham at around 1.30 am on 8th January.
The fire was started in an Audi Estate car that was parked in the station car park, and had spread to other cars nearby including an Audi TT. Red Watch crew manager Bob Mitchell said: “It happened after the last train, there was no-one around – the cars may have been left there over the weekend.”
It took Firefighters about 45 minutes to extinguish the blaze. British Transport Police have been informed and an investigation into the exact cause of the fire will be carried out.
Arson suspected at Stallingborough pallet yard
A large fire broke out at a wooden pallet yard in Stallingborough and it is thought that it may have been started deliberately.
Seven appliances from Humberside Fire and Rescue Service stations at Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Immingham and Hull attended the fire on 31st December.
A spokesman for the service said: “There were a large number of wooden pallets so we sent a large number of appliances, as we knew we had to get the fire under control quickly. We needed so many pumps so we could section off the fire and fight it from all angles to stop it spreading.”
Paul Smith, of Pallet Services Limited, said that the business would recover. He said: “It is a shock start to the year but I am extremely glad that no one was in the yard at the time and no one has been injured in the incident. The fire was a big one and most of the stock has been destroyed, so rebuilding will not be an easy process – but we will definitely reopen again. This is an awful situation to be in but we have a lot of customers and they are very important to us so, with the help of some very hard-working suppliers and staff members, we will rebuild. The police and fire services are treating the incident as suspicious so, for their purposes and the purposes of our insurers, I do not want to say any more at this stage.”
Eyewitness Matthew Leggott said: “There are a lot of industrial properties round there, so it was obviously difficult, but they managed to source some water locally in the end. I was surprised that they didn’t even shut the road off until quite late on but given that it was a Saturday and New Year’s Eve, there weren’t many people around. Had it been a normal trading day it could have been more dangerous and much more disruptive.”
£10,000 reward offered to find Glasgow arsonists
Scottish Power has offered a £10,000 reward in the hope of finding who was responsible for starting a fire in Glasgow which closed the M8 for several hours last week and left over 26,000 homes without electricity.
The fire was started at an underpass at the A8, near the M8, at Old Govan Road in Renfrew and caused substantial damage to high voltage power cables. It will take more than 2 weeks to repair damage caused.
Guy Jefferson from Scottish Power said: “The criminals who started this fire on Monday evening are responsible for major disruptions that have inconvenienced thousands of people across the south side of Glasgow. Sections of our high voltage power line have been badly damaged and carrying out the repairs is a major job. A vital component of the electricity network in the south of Glasgow is now temporarily out of service, and the network is weaker as a result. We need all our equipment to be working in order to guarantee secure supplies of power.”
He added: “Although at this stage we can’t be sure that our cable was targeted in the fire, the issues associated with metal theft continue to increase across the country, and it is costing the UK economy up to £1bn every year. This fire has already caused a huge amount of inconvenience for thousands of people due to the initial power interruption and subsequent road closures. We want to do all that we can to help Strathclyde Police catch those who are responsible.”
Investigations continue into the exact cause of the fire.
Historic Dunstable pub destroyed in arson attack
A thatched pub in Dunstable has been destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
The Norman King pub in Church Street, Dunstable started at around 00:15 on Thursday.
The thatched building was undergoing refurbishment and luckily was empty when the fire broke out.
Bedfordshire Police said the incident was being treated as arson.
30 people from a neighbouring hotel were evacuated due to the large amount of smoke. No one was injured in the incident.
Dave Fothergill from the fire service said: “The fire had spread very quickly by the time we got there, and the fire fighters had to work extremely hard to remove the burning thatch fro the roof to save the building, as well as neighbouring properties threatened by the severe fire. Having the two aerial platforms from Bedford and Luton fire stations proved to be invaluable. We were able to place them above opposite corners of the building and this gave us great coverage to tackle the fire, as well as the opportunity to see the extent of the fire spread, so that we could tackle the fire where it was most needed.”
An investigation into the cause of the fire will now be carried out.
Arson at Somerset school
A fire that started in a school in Somerset while 1,242 pupils worked in their classrooms was started deliberately.
The fire was started at around 2.30pm on 14th July in the old school hall. It was attended by seven fire engines and several specialist support appliances from Avon Fire and Rescue Service and Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.
Deputy headteacher Will Roberts said: “The expertise and professionalism of the fire brigade and police was very evident and the situation was handled by them with great skill. We have also thanked our students who remained very calm and patient. Although the fire is a setback, the good news is that nobody was injured, and the sports centre can return to a nearly normal service almost immediately.”
The fire was spotted by a member of staff before the fire alarms sounded and immediately alerted the emergency services.
The building has suffered extensive damage but no casualties were reported in the incident.