Latest news with #arson
BBC News
an hour ago
- General
- BBC News
Dalton Mills security plea from Keighley Civic Society after latest fire
Calls for an historic mill complex to be protected against future arson attacks have been repeated by the local civic than 20 fire engines were at the scene of the latest fire at the Grade II listed Dalton Mills in Keighley on Saturday from the fire also damaged the roof of Keighley Bus Museum and police said the blaze was now being treated and being site is "ownerless" but the Crown Estate is responsible for selling it under escheat, an ancient law, but said it has no legal responsibility for its upkeep. Emmerson Walgrove, chair of Keighley Civic Society, said: "Keighley cannot lose this important building. "It is now up to those responsible to organise better security, better surveillance, to ensure another major fire like this does not happen again."He said stakeholders including Bradford Council and the Crown Estate should ensure that the site is properly protected. He said: "Dalton Mills is a jewel in Keighley which needs protecting and restoring." A significant proportion of the site, which featured in Peaky Blinders, was destroyed by a major fire in 2022, leading to two teenage boys being arrested and later found guilty of has since been the subject of numerous smaller fires and vandalism. The Crown Estate said it was not able to take any action that might be construed as an "act of management, possession or ownership" in relation to a property under escheat. This included undertaking repairs or carrying out remedial work as in doing this it may incur liabilities associated with the spokesman said local authorities had powers under the Building Act 1984 to make dangerous buildings and structures Alex Ross-Shaw, from Bradford Council, said: "We're all devastated at the latest fire at Dalton Mills and share the frustration of the public who want to see this much-loved heritage asset restored to its former glory. "However, (it) is incorrect to say Bradford Council has the responsibility to make the site secure. "We have been supporting efforts to move the site into local private ownership from the Crown Estate and have worked closely with potential owners to help facilitate this. "Given the importance of the site to Keighley and the wider community, we have worked with Historic England to try secure some of the more exposed areas of the site on a meanwhile basis."The Crown Estate took over the Victorian building after the previous owner went bankrupt and gave up the deeds after a restoration project collapsed. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Suspected arsonist, 33, is charged with terrorism after being caught lighting fires in Bulgaria - as country battles 160 fires while infernos rage across Europe amid apocalyptic 50.5C heatwave
A suspected arsonist has been charged with terrorism after CCTV captured him lighting fires in Bulgaria as a wave of wildfires continues to rage across Europe. Firefighters were battling 160 wildfires across Bulgaria on Monday, as 11 regions in the country have been put on red alert due to the high temperatures. Shocking footage shows a 33-year-old man appearing to set fire to a verge of grass next to a pavement, as flames quickly spread up the bank. Officers arrested the man and charged him with terrorism. Europe has been hit by a wave of wildfires and blistering heat as a dangerous combination of high winds, drought, and soaring temperatures triggers mass evacuations. Around 90 per cent of the fires in Bulgaria have been caused by human error and negligence, said Miroslav Rashkov, the head of the interior ministry. Several suspects have been arrested on suspicion of arson, Mr Rashkvo added. In neighbouring Turkey, wildfires over the past week have led to at least 14 deaths and sparked the evacuations of 19 villages and more than 3,500 people elsewhere from their homes. Turkey's latest heatwave peaked with temperatures above 40C across much of the country last week and even reached a record 50.5C on Friday in the far southeast, in Silopi, near the Iraqi and Syrian borders. 'We are burning up, we don't even know where to go anymore,' Asmin Gezginci, 24, said while returning from a park to her home in the Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir. Officials fighting to keep the fires under control have called the situation 'apocalyptic', warning that it can take 'days' to control the worst of the infernos. A firefighter battling the flames died of a heart attack on Saturday. Greece, too, has endured heatwave conditions for a week, with temperatures passing 40C degrees in many areas. Over the weekend, 55 new fires erupted across the country, though all but five were brought under control. Terrified beachgoers were seen fleeing by boat from beaches in Italy 's Sardinia Island as fires surged inland. Dramatic scenes unfolded on July 27 at Villasimius in southern Sardinia, where flames tore down towards the shoreline, trapping dozens of beachgoers. With roads cut off, tourists were rescued by boat, while many cars were engulfed in flames behind them. According to officials, strong winds were hindering rescue operations as people scrambled to get on the boats. In Greece, hundreds of firefighters are battling out-of-control infernos stretching from Crete to Evia and the Peloponnese, as locals and holidaymakers are ordered to abandon homes and hotels under choking clouds of smoke. This month, a massive blaze erupted near Ierapetra, Crete, with walls of fire tearing through dry brush and hillside communities. With some fires still active, the UK's Foreign Office has issued a travel advisory to the popular holiday destination. More than 1,500 people were officially evacuated, though reports suggest up to 5,000 tourists left on their own as flames crept dangerously close to coastal resorts Fires are also raging on the mainland, with Evia, Kythera, Attica and the Peloponnese all on red alert. Authorities described the situation as a 'titanic battle', with reinforcements called in from EU partners to try and contain the devastation. As flames spread through southern Turkey, the country registered its highest-ever temperature on July 25, with the town of Silopi in Şırnak Province hitting a blistering 50.5C, breaking the previous record of 49.1C set in 2021. The unprecedented heat has turned huge swathes of countryside into a tinderbox, sparking dozens of wildfires in İzmir, Hatay, Bursa, Karabuk, Eskişehir and beyond. In İzmir Province, more than 50,000 residents were forced to flee 41 settlements in late June after firestorms engulfed entire villages. The flames later reached Dörtyol in Hatay, triggering the evacuation of another 2,000 people. Tragically, at least 17 people have been confirmed dead, including volunteer firefighters, civilian responders, and locals overwhelmed by the flames in Eskişehir, Bursa, and Karabuk. In Bursa alone, nearly 1,800 residents were displaced as 1,900 emergency crews scrambled to contain several active fires. Footage shared online shows thick black smoke blanketing motorways and panicked families loading belongings into cars as embers fall from the sky. Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on X: 'We remain on alert day and night with 27 aircraft, 105 helicopters, nearly 6,000 ground vehicles, 25,000 heroic forestry personnel, and 132,000 volunteers.' Meanwhile, the country's agriculture and forestry minister said: 'We are going through high-risk days' and warned that the crisis may not be over until October. The three nations are not the only European countries battling wildfires this summer. Cyprus, Spain, Albania, and Montenegro have all contended with huge blazes in the last month. In Cyprus, a fiery blaze last week left thousands of people displaced. An elderly couple escaping the fires in their car were trapped inside and burned alive. A couple told MailOnline how they rushed to escape the flames with seconds to spare and returned to find their dream villa burned to the ground. Albania firefighters are also facing dozens of fire fronts due to a combination of the heatwave and suspected arson. On Friday, around 2,000 residents in Delvina were forced to leave their homes. Several homes have been damaged, and many forestlands have been left charred. In Kosovo, officials have been able to put out 17 fires that were fuelled by strong winds. However, 12 remain active. Eight cows were killed on a farm in Prizren when a fire broke out, according to firefighters. A separate fire in another region also killed 40 sheep. In France, a fast‑moving wildfire near Marseille on 8 July 2025 injured approximately 100 people. It destroyed around 10 homes and prompted the evacuation of roughly 400 residents, while Marseille-Provence Airport suspended all flights temporarily. The blaze scorched about 350 hectares in the Les Pennes‑Mirabeau area, forcing shutdowns of highways, rail services and tunnels into and out of the city. Meanwhile, three people were killed and at least 41 injured after a train derailed near Riedlingen in southwestern Germany on Sunday. Authorities believe heavy rain caused a sewage shaft to overflow, triggering a landslide that led to the accident. The train, carrying around 100 passengers, derailed at 6:10pm local time. Among the dead were the train driver and a staff member. Severe storms had swept through the region at the time. Police said there is no evidence of foul play.
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Telegraph
Suspected arsonist caught on CCTV amid raging wildfires
An arson suspect was caught on CCTV lighting fires in Bulgaria while deadly wildfires continue to sweep across the country and neighbouring Turkey and Greece. Firefighters were battling 160 wildfires across the Black Sea nation on Monday as much of southern Europe baked under an unabating and deadly heatwave. The footage showed a man appearing to set fire to patches of grass next to a pavement, with flames quickly spreading as he casually walks away. Authorities detained the 33-year-old and charged him with terrorism. In Bulgaria, about 90 per cent of blazes have been caused by human error and negligence, said Miroslav Rashkov, the head of the interior ministry. He added that several suspects had been arrested for arson. Meanwhile, at least 14 people have been killed in Turkey, where infernos are raging across three different regions, stoked by strong winds after days of searing heat. According to forecasts, temperatures are not expected to cool down, with 45C to 50C heat expected in the country's south-east on Tuesday. The heatwave has exacerbated forest fires – which are growing in their frequency each summer as temperatures increase and rainfall decreases – that spread rapidly in dry, windy conditions. 'We are burning up – we don't even know where to go any more,' Asmin Gezginci, 24, told AFP while returning from a park to her home in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir. In Bursa, in the country's north-west, three firefighters were killed when their vehicle crashed on Sunday, authorities said on Monday. More than 3,600 had to be evacuated around Bursa, while 19 villages had to be evacuated in the Safranbolu region in the north. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president, said on Monday that more than 3,000 fires had broken out since the beginning of summer, some as the result of arson. In a televised address, he added that 96 per cent of the fires were caused by human activity, such as cigarette butts and picnic fires. 'Let us not forget that this is a war, a defence of our green homeland, against this insidious enemy,' Mr Erdogan told the nation. Greece also struggled to clear up after a devastating week of forest fires that ravaged homes and sparked evacuations across the country. At least 44 new wildfires broke out across the country in the past 24 hours, the fire service said on Monday, while Spanish planes were deployed to help Portuguese firefighters tackle a blaze on a remote mountain. Italy is also sweltering under the heatwave. On Sunday in Sardinia, about 140 tourists were forced to flee by boat from a beach in the south of the island when a huge wildfire broke out nearby, blocking other escape routes. In Albania, more than 900 firefighters, assisted by the army, struggled to control a wildfire before it reached the seaside city of Sarandë and other tourist resorts in the south. About 13 people have been arrested for arson-related offences in the past three days, police said.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Police cordon off home and arrest ‘arsonists' as investigations into house fire start
Arrests have been made in connection to a housefire in Ferndale and a police cordon has been set up as investigations are underway. On Sunday July 27, fire fighters were called to reports of a house fire in Protheroe Street, Ferndale around 1.24am. Several properties were evacuated, and a rest centre was set up for those affected. A spokesperson for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: 'SWFRS received a call at approximately 01:24 to reports of a domestic fire in Ferndale. 'Crews, multiple fire engines, a water bowser and specialist support units attended the scene and extinguished the fire.' It has now been confirmed that the fire was deliberately started by arsonists. Protheroe Street where investigations are ongoing (Image: NQ) A joint investigation is underway, led by South Wales Police and South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. A spokesperson for South Wales Police said: 'Early indications reveal that the fire was started deliberately. Within 30 minutes of the fire being reported a car was proactively stopped by officers from our Roads Policing Unit and three men aged 18, 19 and 23 and a 19-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life. All four remain in police custody. 'Officers continue to maintain a police cordon on Protheroe Street as our investigations continue. Emergency services, in collaboration with partner agencies, are managing the fire's impact on those effected and the wider community. To provide further assistance a rest centre has been set up by the local authority to support those displaced by the incident. 'The local residents have shown strong community spirit by rallying together to support those families effected and we would like to thank them for their understanding and co-operation during this ongoing investigation.' Police are asking that anyone with doorbell or CCTV footage from properties on Protheroe Street, Brown Street, Irfon Street, and New Street from 10pm on Sunday July 27 to 2am this morning, Monday July 28, to get in touch. They would also like to hear from anyone with dashcam footage who was on any of the streets at the highlighted time. Anyone with any information is asked to get in touch quoting reference log 2500239959.
CTV News
12 hours ago
- CTV News
Saskatoon man charged for allegedly trying to set vehicles and trees on fire
The Saskatoon Police Service headquarters can be seen in this file photo. A 47-year-old man is in custody after Saskatoon police say he allegedly attempted to set vehicles and trees on fire last Friday. At around 1:50 p.m. on July 25, police were called to Diefenbaker Drive and Worobetz Place, where witnesses reported that a man was armed with a burning stick and attempting to set passing vehicles on fire. Police say the man was then witnessed entering a nearby park and attempting to set trees on fire. He was taken into custody and is charged with resisting arrest, attempted arson, possession of an incendiary device, and breach of probation.
