Police treating overnight fire at unoccupied house in Wixams as arson
A fire during the early hours of the morning at an unoccupied house in Wixams is being treated as arson.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to Violet Road at just before 11.30pm on Wednesday February 18, with three crews from Ampthill, one from Bedford, three from Kempston and one from Leighton Buzzard attending the scene.
The blaze involved an unoccupied detached house which measured eight metres by six metres, and a garage measuring eight metres by three metres.
Both buildings were under construction and severely damaged by the fire.
Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident, which destroyed the unoccupied house.
Bedfordshire Police said they were called to the scene by firefighters who were fighting the blaze at just after 11pm.
Residents in the Wixams area were advised to keep their doors and windows closed due to the amount of smoke in the area.
They were also urged to stay inside and avoid the area to reduce their exposure to smoke at the height of the blaze.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used a hose reel jet and two main jets to extinguish the fire, and also used a triple extension ladder and three thermal imaging cameras to check for hotspots.
Within a couple of hours of crews extinguishing the blaze, all smoke had cleared.
Anyone who saw suspicious activity in the area at the time of the incident or has information related to it, is asked to contact police on 101 quoting the reference 470 of February 18.