Arsonists fire boat on K & A

POLICE say that a narrowboat that was burnt out at Devizes on the Kennet & Avon Canal was set on fire deliberately.

It had little chance of being saved, as being moored between two bridges the  firefighters could not get their hoses to reach the blaze, so used  a nearby lane and had to go through trees to get to the scene, all in all taking three hours, with now nothing left of the interior, Alan Tilbury tells us.

No one on board

It was a towpath walker who saw the blaze and called the emergency services to the boat which had no one on board, with Sgt Vincent Logue of Devizes Police confirming that the fire was being treated as arson.

It was dark where the boat was moored, but eventually flood lights arrived from Salisbury Fire Station, which enabled the fire crews to see what they were doing.

Water rescue firefighters from Chippenham and Trowbridge also arrived at the scene, but were unable to use their boat as the canal was frozen, so instead used a 4 x 4 to get equipment to the scene on the towpath, with water from the canal used to douse the fire.