Flats were ‘maliciously’ set on fire
A BLOCK of derelict flats near the Redheugh Bridge in Gateshead were destroyed by a deliberate fire that raged for nearly five hours.
The two-storey building on Tyne Road East went up in flames in the early hours of Saturday morning and the fire service say it was started “maliciously”.
The seven flats, which were empty and set to be demolished, were set alight shortly after midnight and took firefighters until just after 5am to put out the blaze.
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service said that the flats have been a popular spot for people to start fires and that this was started by “malicious ignition”.
They said that there was unlikely to be a criminal investigation into the fire as the flats were due to be torn down anyway.
A spokesman for the fire service added: “There was a fire at a twostorey block of seven flats that had been awaiting demolition.
“One of the flats was 100% damaged by fire and another one was 20% damaged by fire. The remaining flats were all 100% damaged by water.
“We had three water jets in use, two sets of breathing apparatus and a Cobra — a machine which shoots out water vapour at high speed and pressure to lower the temperature in a room very quickly.
“There were five appliances and an aerial platform on scene and it was extinguished by 5.05am.”