Firefighters condemn '˜irresponsible' spate of arson following vehicle fire in Gosport

A VEHICLE was set on fire in Gosport's Westfield Road yesterday evening, and the incident follows a number of bin fires in the early hours of the morning.

Gosport Fire Station crew manager, Rob Burns, said while firefighters are attending arson incidents like this – they are delayed in attending other jobs such as property fires.

His crew were called to the scene at about 7.45pm, where a Peugeot 406 was 10 per cent alight, and smouldering.

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Mr Burns said: ‘We’re not sure how the fire started, so the police were called, but we’ve had a spate of arson over the last few days.

‘There were a number of bin fires from 4am this morning through to 7am.

‘We extinguished the fire but the car has obviously been damaged.

‘While were dealing with incidents of arson, like this one, we’re unable to deal with other serious and significant fires.

‘Whoever is doing this is totally irresponsible, and these smaller fires can delay more serious fires being attended to by 20 minutes – and when there’s a big fire, that’s a long time.’