East Sussex building site fire sparks police appeal after officers carry out 'several searches'

Multiple fire crews were called to Stone Cross, after shipping containers caught fire in the early hours of Saturday morning (August 17).

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service sent four fire engines to the scene on Hailsham Road near Funnell Drive around 12.30am.

Police officers were pictured alongside fire crews at the scene.

A Sussex Police spokesperson said: “Police were called to a report of a person entering a construction site in Pickens Wood, Stone Cross, shortly after midnight.

"Officers attended and found a fire in a shipping container on the property.

“East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service extinguished the fire and several searches of the area were undertaken to locate any people or reasonable lines of enquiry.”

Anyone who ‘witnessed anything suspicious around that time’ is asked to contact police online, or via 101, quoting serial 017 of 17/08.

The fire service said there were ‘no reports of injuries’ after the incident.

At the height of the incident, crews were using four breathing apparatus and two main jets. Members of the public were asked to ‘please avoid the area’.

As of 1.35 am, the incident was being scaled back to two fire engines.

The fire serviced added: “Breathing apparatus is no longer being used and crews are checking for hot spots.”

As of 2.10 am, the site had been ‘handed over to a security team’ and the ‘crews are leaving’.