Arsonists strike four times overnight including three deliberate grassland fires

Crews were first called out to a deliberate bin fire at 7.10pm on School Street, Thurnscoe, and left the scene at 7.30pm.

Just ten minutes later, a crew from Rotherham station were called to the first deliberate grassland fire on Droppingwell Road in Kimberworth. 

It took an hour and 40 minutes to tackle the blaze, with firefighters leaving at 9.20pm.

Meanwhile, at 7.45pm, Dearne firefighters were called out to another deliberate grassland fire on Broadwater, Bolton-on-Dearne, which took nearly an hour to deal with. 

The crew came away at 8.35pm.

The final deliberate fire involving grassland was on Bradbury Balk Lane, Wombwell, with the blaze taking crews an hour and 35 minutes to deal with.  

They came away at 9.40pm.

The day before, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue had posted on Facebook appealing for information about “deliberate fire-setting across South Yorkshire” and encouraging people to “help us bring arsonists to justice” by calling its anonymous FireStoppers line on 0800 169 5558.