A MAN sporting full camouflage gear and a gas mask has been detained after a quiet Newton Abbot neighbourhood suffered a spree of destruction this morning.
Just after 5am firefighters and police were called to Seymour Road following reports of several arson attacks and damage to properties.
Residents say they saw the masked man equipped with a can of flammable liquid walk along the road and set fire to two cars. He then tried to set fire to someone’s front door, smash down a garden gate and start a fire in a garden.
Reports that the man was wielding a machete are yet to be confirmed.
Sleepy homeowners in the area were woken up by the commotion and some managed to detain the offender before the police turned up and carted him away.
Resident Giles Burden, whose two-month old Peugeot 308 was among the vehicles torched, said: ‘There was a guy, maybe in his 20s, with camouflage gear on and wearing a full-face smoke mask walking up and down the road with a can of petrol.
‘One of the neighbours caught him on his own and then four residents held him down.
‘He was a big lad, over six foot, and he put up a fight.’
Mr Burden - whose two little girls were in the house at the time - managed to put the fire out in his car by himself but believes it has been written off.
After damaging Mr Burden’s vehicle, the assailant is believed to have kicked in a neighbour’s front gate and tried to set fire to the door.
It is thought the man then targeted the house opposite and set fire to the rear of a car before travelling further down the road to start a fire in someone’s garden - damaging an outdoor train set in the process.
Police have cordoned off the crime scenes while they carry out their investigations.
A 20-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson and possession of an offensive weapon in public. He was taken into police custody and will be interviewed later today.