Eight boys arrested after fire at factory in Caroline Street in Longton
EIGHT teenagers have been arrested in connection with a major warehouse fire.
Longton town centre was brought to a standstill by the blaze at a disused building in Caroline Street on Sunday afternoon.
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ARRESTS: The fire at teh empty warehouse, also top.
A joint police and fire investigation is underway, and the fire is being treated as suspicious.
Five 14-year-old males and three 15-year-old males, all from Stoke-on-Trent, were arrested and questioned by officers.
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Seven have been bailed, pending further inquiries, to a date in August, while one 14-year-old remains in custody.
Firefighters from across North Staffordshire spent the rest of the evening tackling the fire, which sent a massive plume of smoke rising above Longton.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, but the blaze caused widespread disruption.
The Stoke-on-Trent to Derby railway line was closed as a precaution, as were a number of nearby roads.
Group manager Brian Griffiths, from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue, said: "This was a very severe fire and has destroyed the contents of the building, believed to have mainly been pottery lithographs.
"Following a joint fire and police investigation yesterday we are treating this fire as suspicious and the police have made some arrests in connection with this incident."
The fire in Caroline Street followed a blaze at the former Premier Hair & Beauty premises in Market Street, Longton, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Firefighters have been unable to carry out a full investigation into the incident, due to the structural instability of the building.
Crews spent more than 20 hours dealing with the two fires over the weekend.
The building in Caroline Street, which is owned by Time Square Ltd, has been disused for a number of years.
Richard Cresswell, chairman of Longton Chamber of Trade and owner of RD Creswell and Co, believes it will continue to attract arsonists if left standing.
He said: "The fire was about 20 yards from our Calor gas depot, so the fire fighters had to force their way in to keep all the cylinders damp as a precaution. They had to do it, although the risk of explosion was minimal.
"That building has been empty for five or six years now and this is the second time it's been set on fire. The last time was around 18 months ago. They should knock the thing down before it happens again. The fire was absolutely horrendous.
"There's nothing for teenagers to do around here, so you will get some who will break into a building and see if they can get the fire brigade out."
Nobody at Time Square Ltd was available for comment.
A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said: "Police are appealing for any witnesses to the incident to come forward, and are particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have seen people entering or exiting the building."
Anyone with information is asked to contact DC Mark Burslem at Staffordshire Police on 101 quoting incident number 609 of April 29. Alternatively, they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Comments
by az34fgh
Wednesday, May 02 2012, 10:27PM
“Sorry Wozzer but I know families who live on benefits where the drug-addled parents spend most of the day in bed while the kids look after themselve. These kids still have computers and gameboys etc. Really, there's no excuse for this sort of behaviour. For example, going back to the sixties, we all had a knife for camping, wittling etc. and nobody got stabbed, Can you imagine that today? I'm afraid that today's youth has severe mental health problems and I say that without any disrespect to the genuine mental health sufferers out there.”
by Wozzer101
Wednesday, May 02 2012, 6:22AM
“Ofcourse I what the idiots who did this punished and punished good, they in doing this have crossed the line. But why do kids of this age do this, some said they did not do it in the 60s and 70s, not the best point to make, it was diffrent then and we did have youth clubs and places to play. Look around you mate, what's hear now, stuff all. I surpose the next thing is they all have computers, mobiles, wide screen TVs, DVD player, all that c**p. Well, that's a load of BS as well, that stuff costs money, and these kids would I think come from very poor households, might be just mum running the show, with mo posative male input at all on there lives.
Like I say, they need to be punished, and hard, but we need to look at what's wroung hear and offer something more in the area then there as been for the last 30 some odd years.”
by steve_stoke
Tuesday, May 01 2012, 7:03PM
“Oh what a surprise it belongs to Time square. How odd he wasn't available to comment. mmmmmm”
by ghosts
Tuesday, May 01 2012, 4:23PM
“They should be made an example of...a warning to other little terrors....you do something wrong and you get punished.....”
by Alberus
Tuesday, May 01 2012, 3:29PM
“I guess Sumoo would want to gas them?”
by Johntoe
Tuesday, May 01 2012, 3:04PM
“Down with this sort of thing,”
by scfcscfc08
Tuesday, May 01 2012, 2:01PM
“stokeygirl123, you're wrong, you shouldn't be put off having children. It's savvy people like you who SHOULD be parents.
It's the dumb nuts who should have been neutered who shouldn't be parents and we all see who they are, every time we go into a supermarket.”
by stokeygirl123
Tuesday, May 01 2012, 1:36PM
“These kind of stories put me off having children, growing up in a society like this where setting fires is a normal sunday afternoon activity. A gas explosion was unlikely but it 'could' of happend and deaths could of been the outcome let alone the air pollution from such a big fire. Send them to a concentration camp and teach them a lesson. Bet their parents are so proud!”
by fiat128
Tuesday, May 01 2012, 12:48PM
“Assuming that we are talking about the guilty parties, why reward them with new facilities? We didn't do this sort of thing when we were kids back in the 60's. Give them what they deserve, a good hiding and a few years in borstal. Excuses such as boredom and unhappy family homes don't wash anymore, not in today's technologically advanced society where kids have so much.”
by jefffb
Tuesday, May 01 2012, 11:07AM
“not little muppets but little Arsonists.”