AN arsonist brought chaos to one of Newton Abbot's busiest roads on Wednesday when smoke from a blazing warehouse blanketed the Wolborough Street area (writes SIMON BLACKBURN).
The large expanse of wasteground, adjacent to the Giant Furniture Warehouse, which is destined to become Teignbridge Council's new car park as part of a regeneration project, was lost behind a thick curtain of smoke and midday traffic was bought to a standstill by arriving fire engines and police.
Two Newton Abbot fire crews, who were dealing with a faulty fire alarm incident in the Courtenay Street Boots store nearby, were quickly on the scene and found an office area on the first floor of a disused warehouse behind the old Unipart store ablaze.
As firefighters struggled to gain entry to the area via Salem Place, further crews arrived from Teignmouth and, with the help of police and council workers, removed metal fencing surrounding the wasteground to access the building from the front.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus attempted to enter the building through a large sliding door, but were repeatedly beaten back by dense smoke as the flames fed off the timber construction of the offices and staircase.
Forty-five minutes later, an hydraulic platform arrived from Torquay and two firefighters were lifted above the building armed with power-saws and axes to ventilate the rooms.
Fire Incident Commander Phil Aggett said at the scene that they were treating the fire as arson and police confirmed that the case has been handed to the Arson Task Force. A witness, who was working on the site and was inside the building 20 minutes before the fire was discovered, reported seeing nothing supsicious.