ARSONISTS are believed to have started a fire in the stairwell of a block of flats on Colchester’s Greenstead estate.

A large pile of clothing was set alight in the communal area of the flats, in Hawthorn Avenue, on Sunday evening, melting plastic on the railings and the saddle of a bicycle left locked to them.

A resident, who did not want to be named, said one of her neighbours hung his washing out to dry on the railings She said: “I was out and got a phone call from a friend to say the flat was on fire, so I rushed home.

“The fire brigade got here very quickly to put it out and there was no damage to any of the flats, which is good. I’ve been here for a year and we’ve never had any problems with vandals or anything, so this is a worrying incident.”

Station officer Joe Hassell said one man was in a top- floor flat in the block and the fire outside had been so intense the smoke alarm inside his flat had been set off.

Mr Hassell said: “It must have been quite a fire, as some of the clothes had actually burned out. Luckily, there was no one else in any of the flats. We’re treating this as a suspicious incident. We’ve sent a fire investigation officer, and police scenes of crime officers have been looking at it.”

Anyone with information, call police on 0300 3334444.