Boys arrested after fire at Hygrade in Chippenham (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Boys arrested after fire at Hygrade in Chippenham

10:33am Tuesday 16th October 2012 in News By Anne Moore

Two boys were arrested by police after a fire at the disused Hygrade Factory in Chippenham yesterday.

Police were alerted just after 5pm by security guards who said there were some youngsters causing a nuisance at the site.

When they arrived six minutes later they saw smoke coming out of the building and alerted the fire service.

Security guard Phil Pepper, from Ensure Security Company in Melksham, said the company patrols the building four times a day. He was at the site at 3.38pm when he saw people playing on the roof and called for back-up. At 4.36pm security guard Phil MacDonald arrived and heard people inside the building.

He said: “We called 999 for the police to attend so we could flush them out and we could catch them.

“When the police attended a member of the public alerted us to the fact that there was a fire and that’s when they called the fire brigade.”

Mr MacDonald said that there has been a problem with youngsters entering the building and that yesterday youths were throwing paving slabs from the top of the roof.

He said: “It’s a dangerous place and the more that they are damaging it, the more unstable it’s becoming.”

Following the incident a 14-year-old boy was arrested and charged with arson and criminal damage, and a 13-year-old was charged with arson. Both have been released on bail.