BREAKING NEWS: Worthing wood pile set alight

Firefighters were called to the seafront at Marine Parade shortly after 2.30am today (Sunday).

All the wood washed ashore from the Ice Princess had been broken down in to smaller piles of timber and the firefighters concentrated their efforts on preventing the fire spreading to adjacent wood piles and nearby beach huts.

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The fire crews were helped by an offshore breeze which reduced the threat of the fire spreading, used seven firefighting jets and were assisted by a contractor using a mechanical digger to break up the wood pile.

The fire is being treated as arson, and Incident Commander Dave Howells asked for anyone with information to contact Police.

"Although this might be seen as just a large bonfire on a beach, it has tied up our resources for several hours when they could have been needed elsewhere for a more life-threatening emergency," he said.

The burning pile has now been reduced to roughly 25 per cent of its original size, but is likely to continue burning for a few more hours before it is finally extinguished.