Fire chief’s arson alert

It comes after the derelict BOCM Pauls building, off Barlby Road, was set alight at about 1.15pm on Friday.

The 600sq metre building was completely destroyed in the blaze, which took 15 firefighters five-and-a-half hours to extinguish.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service later said the fire had been set by children using matches.

Selby station manager Colin Hunter said setting fires deliberately not only endangered firefighters, but also meant more serious incidents could not be tackled as quickly, putting the community at risk.

He said: "Even if they are only small fires outside, they are still dangerous and time consuming because we could be needed for a real emergency somewhere else and we might be tackling a grass fire.

"There is a risk to the community and the crews as they get there because you have got to treat every incident as an emergency."

Mr Hunter said there had been several small fires set deliberately on open ground in the last week, but Friday's blaze was much more serious.

He said: "The BOCM building was structurally unsafe. The fire was fought from outside partly because the building was showing signs of collapse.

"There were a lot of things in there - machinery, cylinders and paints - that we were not aware of that made for a very severe fire.

"We had to evacuate people and fight it from outside which made the fire even more time-consuming."

Fire crews had to get extra water from hydrants in Barlby Road because of the scale of the blaze, meaning firefighters had to lay hoses along the busy road.

Mr Hunter said the building was clearly marked as unsafe and should not have been entered by anyone, adding: "I would urge people not to set fires and do something else to relieve the boredom.

"You might think it is just a small fire, you are having a laugh, but the knock-on effect is someone else who really needs a firefighter not being able to get one."