Teens arrested after skip blaze in Bognor

The teen suspects were arrested by police less than an hour after police officers spotted the blaze. They have since been bailed while further inquiries are carried out.

Police community support officer Clive Morge said: "The prompt action stopped the situation becoming particularly worse and, possibly, life-threatening. This incident could have ended in a far more serious way with either someone dying or, at the very least, someone being seriously injured."

The alarm was raised when a neighbourhood policing team spotted black smoke while they were on patrol around 8.30pm last Saturday, August 22.

They discovered the fire had been started in a skip in Sandringham Way next to a tree close to King George Court.

Firefighters from Bognor and Chichester arrived soon afterwards and spent 45 minutes tackling the blaze. It wrecked the skip's contents, spread to the tree and caused 20 per cent of a nearby car to be damaged by heat.

Police were soon alerted to the fact two teenagers had been seen acting suspiciously in the area minutes before the blaze started. At least two members of the public came forward with information.

Further police officers arrived while the fire was being fought. More evidence was gathered and CCTV footage obtained, said PCSO Morge. Officers quickly moved on the alleged suspects' homes and arrested them.

PCSO Morge stated: "This whole sequence of events having taken place in under an hour demonstrated what can be achieved when the community and the emergency services work together."

n A further, unrelated blaze was deliberately started on the other side of Bognor just as fire crews were putting out the Sandringham Way blaze.

The second, small fire was in a refuse bin in the underpass by Parkside on Upper Bognor Road. It was extinguished in less than 15 minutes.