Staff and volunteers at the Barnardos shop in Broad Street were left distraught after a suspected arson attack at a charity shop last week destroyed donations and left it closed for business. An upstairs room of Barnardos was set alight after the premises was broken into via the back door at around 11pm on Friday, January 25th.

The fire was spotted by local police on patrol who also contacted the manager Elaine Redding who only returned to the position six months ago after working as a child minder. She quickly arrived at the scene and was shocked at the damage. She told the Gazette how grateful she is to "the fire service and the police for their amazing support."

In addition to the fire, which caused considerable damage to stock and some of the floorboards, whoever carried out this offence also vandalised the shop's fixtures and fittings, as well as stealing a charity box containing a small amount of cash. Fire crews from Ross, Whitchurch and Hereford attended, arriving to find a severe fire in a storage area on the first floor of the property.

Eight firefighters in breathing apparatus quickly extinguished the fire using four hose reels and two covering jets.

Station Commander Neil Pigott from HWFRS praised fire crews for their rapid response, saying: "This was a severe fire right in heart of Ross town centre and it certainly had the potential to spread to other buildings nearby. Thankfully our crews worked quickly and were able to bring the fire under control, preventing damage to other properties in the area."

For the rest of this story please see this week's Ross Gazette.