North Essex: Arsonists keep lighting fires, despite police presence

8:00am Monday 12th January 2009

Comments (4)   Have your say »

ARSONISTS continued causing havoc despite police being at the scene of a blaze.

Police were called to Warwick Road, Clacton, after a fire was started in a skip close to a gas cannister.

PC Paul Kilgannon said officers came close to evacuating homes in and around Warwick Road.

He said: “The skip fire got quite out of hand and nearly spread to a nearby flat-bed truck, which contained a gas cannister.

“If it had exploded, there is no telling what it could have done. It could have killed people.

“We had to run up and douse the cannister in foam.”

Police managed to hold off the flames with foam before fire crews arrived.

If they had not managed to contain the fire, PC Kilgannon said police would have been looking at evacuating 30 to 40 homes surrounding the skip.

The skip fire was one of four arson attacks which took place within an hour of each other in Warwick Road.

Two of the incidents happened after the police had arrived at the scene.

“Usually, the presence of a police car is very much a deterrent, but not on this occasion,” said PC Kilgannon.

Officers were first called to deal with a carrier bag full of paper, which had been set alight, causing minor damage to a house. After arriving at Warwick Road, they spotted a second small fire.

A resident then alerted police to two more fires, one of which was the skip fire and another on an area of wasteland.

Police are appealing for information to help them catch those responsible. They are keen to trace two young men, one wearing a dark jacket, who were seen outside one of the properties.

Anyone with information about the incident should call Clacton police on 0300 333 4444.