Blaze latest in string of suspected arson strikes in Jaywick (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Blaze latest in string of suspected arson strikes in Jaywick

9:48am Sunday 18th July 2010

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A WOMAN was rescued by a passer-by after a blaze broke out at her home in the latest of a series of suspected arson attacks in Jaywick.

Firefighters were called just after 2.15am this morning after a blaze was spotted in a garden in Sea Way.

Flames from a domestic oil-heating tank between two of the tightly-packed bungalows were spreading to the houses.

Luckily a passer-by managed to wake an elderly woman who was asleep in one of the houses.

The other property was unoccupied.

Sub-officer Adrian Wallis said: “The oil tank had caught fire and was affecting the properties on both sides, burning the windows, fascias and guttering.

“A man saw the fire across the garden, banged on the door a woke a lady up who had been asleep.”

The victim was taken to a neighbour’s house but is not believed to have needed medical treatment despite smoke pouring into her home.

Firefighters using breathing apparatus and thermal imaging equipment tackled the blaze, pumping foam onto the burning oil tank.

The sides of both properties were badly damaged but the brigade managed to prevent the fire from spreading.

Mr Wallis said the windows melted in the heat and part of the roofs were also damaged.

“We caught it just in time,” he added.

A joint fire and police investigation is being carried out into the blaze. Scene of crime officers were due back in Sea Way today.

The latest incident comes just four days after firebugs were blamed for a blaze which gutted a bungalow in nearby Brooklands Gardens - the fourth suspected arson attack in the area this year.

The brigade says Jaywick’s Brooklands and Grasslands estates top Essex league tables for suspicious fires.

Anyone with information should contact Clacton police on 0300 333 4444.

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