Scout hut destroyed by fire

Richard Cornwell

A VILLAGE is reeling after its third serious fire this year - just two days after a fire chief visited to reassure residents over the service's ability to deal with incidents.

The Scout Hut at Waldringfield was destroyed in a spectacular late night fire which saw flames shooting high into the air.

Residents said the five metre by three metre wooden building had been in use earlier in the evening.

A spokesman for the fire service said no investigation had been held into the cause but the fire was not suspicious.

Witness Ian Videlo said the fire at the hut in Deben Lane had started just after 11.15pm on Thursday .

“We were just going to bed when we saw the flames and we telephoned the people at Swan's Nest who were nearest to it and they didn't know it was happening, which was quite scary,” he said.

“Then we called the fire brigade and they came really quickly, but with it being a wooden building it went up so fast and the flames were quite big when it was at its peak.”

Firefighters from Woodbridge put out the blaze by midnight and then raked through the embers and made sure the area was safe.

Villagers said the hut was mostly used in the summer months. It was not known if equipment was stored inside.

Parish clerk Jean Potter said it was the third fire this year following the massive blaze which destroyed a house in Cliff Road in January, and a heath fire in March.

There had been concerns in the village regarding access to water supplies for extinguishing fires, and worries about getting fire engines and bowsers down narrow lanes, and locations of water hydrants and servicing.

She said a fire officer had attended the annual parish meeting on Tuesday to answer residents' questions and reassure the village over fire cover.

“They are doing the best they can in the circumstances but rural villages don't have the big water mains like they do in the towns,” she said.

richard.cornwell@eadt.co.uk