'It's putting lives in danger' - Firefighter blasts arsonists who have hit same pub FOUR times in two weeks
A leading firefighter has hit out at arsonists for 'putting lives at risk' after a derelict pub was targeted for the fourth time in two weeks.
Andy Minor, watch commander at Willenhall fire station, said crews had been kept busy tackling blazes at The Boat pub in Darlaston when they should have been available to be elsewhere, dealing with other, potentially fatal, incidents.
In recent weeks crews have been called out after caravans, cars and the pub building itself were set fire to. Now calls have been made to put up security fencing.
Mr Minor described the attacks as 'frustrating' and explained how yobs were gaining access to the Bentley Road South site from the canalside.
He said: "We have had four incidents there now in two weeks. Of course it is frustrating, we are tied up dealing with nuisance fires at this one site.
"Something needs to be done, they keep getting in from the canal side and setting fire to things. The pub was the first to go now we have had this shipping container, caravans, a car.
"While we are dealing with incidents at the site we can't respond to other call-outs. It is putting lives in danger, especially in Willenhall."
Darlaston councillor Paul Bott, whose uncle ran the pub for a short period, has called for proper fencing to be put in place to stop further attacks.
He said: "They would resolve the situation if they got some proper fencing on the site.
"These kids are coming along the canalside and getting in through the fence around there. It needs somebody who owns the site or Walsall Council to get some proper fencing."
He added: "It is another decline in the pub trade in Darlaston. The pub situation in Darlaston is dire, some people still like to socialise in pubs."
In 2005 The Boat was named the best pub of the year by the Campaign for Real Ale's local branch but a year later it shut its doors.
It soon attracted fly-tippers and one man was fined more than £10,000 in 2009 for dumping scrap metal and car parts at the site.
The borough council spent £3,700 clearing the rubbish but an unauthorised car cleaning operation soon moved onto the site.
It was shut down in a council crackdown, which led to the firm obtaining permission to set up at the plot legitimately for a maximum of two years from 2010.
They were granted permission to flatten the building but that has never been done and the firm has since left.
