Cars targeted in arson spree

One of the nights also saw a firebug torch a fence and two wheelie bins outside a Rose Green shop.

Two of the blazes were started within 40 minutes of each other another late on Sunday night.

They were followed by a third two hours later in the early hours of Monday.

The rapid sequence of deliberate fires put the town's firefighters at full stretch for almost four hours. Both the full-time and retained crews on duty at night were in action.

This meant the town had to be covered by firecrews drafted in from elsewhere. The incidents have left residents and vehicle owners worried.

The latest of the fires saw Steve Goodheart had to watch with dismay as the caravan outside his Upper Bognor Road house in Bognor melted into a blob on his drive.

The vehicle was used as a mobile office for the Rox organisation but an arsonist reduced it to a mess of molten aluminium and plastic.

The flames also spread to a tree in his front garden. The alarm was raised by a passing taxi driver at 2am on Monday. She rang 999 and then roused Mr Goodheart and his family.

He said: 'I looked out the window and thought it was red snow. I then realised it was the sparks from the flames I was seeing.'

He went next door to get his neighbours to safety and waited for the emergency services to arrive.

The caravan had been used by Rox for about 12 years. It had become a mobile office during events as well as a hospitality room for artistes.

Mr Goodheart valued it at 4,500-5,000. But he pledged that the loss would not affect this year's music and arts festival.

'We will get around the destruction of the caravan, though if anyone has one which they would be prepared to donate us, it would be good to talk to them,' he added.

Last Friday morning saw Wadhurst Close resident Julia House woken up as two cars in her road went up in flames together.

One was opposite her home and the other further along the road.

She said: 'It was really frightening. My stomach was churning. I was so scared I don't remember the call I made to the fire brigade.

'I was concerned for my vehicle and my house. I thought if the car opposite had gone bang my house would have had it. I couldn't get back to sleep after the fires because I was scared the arsonist was coming back to finish off the cars.'

She said both the vehicles destroyed were older Ford Fiestas. One was coloured burgundy and the other white. Both were believed to have been stolen.

Dave Benham, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service's deputy district commander for the Arun district, said the sequence of arsons had been noted.

'It would appear that we have had more deliberate fires than we would expect over that period of time.

'We are quite concerned about this. All the fires have been put down as deliberate as far as we are concerned.'

But he said, though the blazes around Wadhurst Close were likely to be connected, those in other roads might not be linked.

Dealing with such a spate of fires could put lives elsewhere at risk, he warned.

'If the first crew are called out, and then the retained crew, it means that we have to move appliances in to take their place. This reduces cover in other areas and is something we can't get away from.'

He stated that he would raise the number of car fires at the next meeting of the Arun crime and disorder reduction partnership. It was hard to stop arsons being committed but he hoped the police would be willing to have a more visible presence around the Wadhurst Close area to act as a deterrence.

Making the Crimestoppers intelligence number available for information could also help, he added.