Fire at Corby's old Salvation Army building being treated as arson

Crews from Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service were called shortly after 4am to reports of a fire at the derelict building in Wood Street.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “On arrival, crews found smoke issuing from the one storey building.

"Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus were able to use hose reel jets to contain the fire to just one part of the building, and by 5.30am had extinguished the fire and were damping down the roof.

“The two Corby crews remained on scene to carry out thermal scans and monitor temperatures, as well as use fans to clear smoke out of the building.

“Once the building was at a safe temperature, they returned to the station just after 6am, leaving the incident in the hands of Northamptonshire Police to maintain a scene guard.

“The fire service returned to the scene at 9.30am to investigate and determined that the most likely cause of the fire was that it was started deliberately.”

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said: “Once NFRS had extinguished the fire we maintained a scene guard ahead of fire investigators examining the scene, who have now concluded that the fire was most likely started deliberately.

“Northamptonshire Police is investigating the incident as arson and continues to work with NFRS. Anyone with information about the fire is asked to call 101 quoting incident number 24000407672.”

Police and fire crews were at the scene as recently as 1pm, as well as a fire investigation dog unit and three Cadent gas vans.

Crew wearing white overalls were also seen going in and out of the building.