Gosport fire at Anglesey Lodge sees arson probe after 40 firefighters battle blaze for 6 hours

Eight fire appliances and 40 firefighters from across the region spent almost six hours fighting to save Anglesey Lodge in Anglesey Road after being alerted to the blaze at 6.30pm yesterday evening.

Today around 80 per cent of the structure has been destroyed.

Gosport crew manager Adam Way, who sent two appliances to the scene, said: ‘We describe it as cause doubtful – meaning we suspect it was started deliberately.

‘No one lives in the building, which has been derelict for a number of years, and there is no electricity or gas supply so it is hard to see how it could not have been started deliberately

‘We have had an number of incidents over the summer with kids setting fires in the building. While the site has been secured, there are bushes on one side which people can get through.’

Due to the building not being occupied, fire crews carried out a ‘defensive’ operation – looking to extinguish the blaze without entering the property.

Crew manager Way added: ‘We knew the inside of the building was unstable and so unless there were people in there we needed to get out, then we tackle the blaze from outside the building.’

The mission to save the building was a county wide operation with fire appliances and water carriers deployed from Gosport, Fareham, Portchester, Bishop’s Waltham, Cosham, Wickham and Bordon.

The aerial ladder platform was used to douse the blaze from above.

SEE ALSO: Two women taken to hospital after Gosport flat fire

By the time the inferno was extinguished, fire crews estimated the Grade-II listed building had ‘suffered around 80 per cent fire damage’.

The fire investigation team and Hampshire police have now launched a full investigation to find the exact cause of the fire.

Police have confirmed they are investigating a potential arson attack.

A statement from Hampshire Constabulary said: ‘We are looking at it as a possible arson.

‘The joint Arson Task Force which consists of police and fire service are looking at this but currently the building is still said to have hotspots and is not thought to be structurally safe so no one has been able to enter yet and won’t be able to do so until structural engineers have assessed it.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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