POLICE fear a storage ground in St Leonards was set ablaze deliberately on Tuesday night.

Machinery was destroyed in the suspected arson attack at Haulage Contractors DM Guppy and Sons despite the efforts of firefighters from Ringwood and Redhill.

Owner Dave Guppy said he still doesn’t know much about the fire, which started at around 8.30pm in the evening.

“We still don’t know much about what happened here,” he said when contacted by the Daily Echo.

“We had a call to say that something was burning, and we went along to let the fire service in so they could put the fire out, but that’s all I could say about it. We don’t know anything about it being suspicious, but that’s what the firemen and the police seem to think it is.”

Crews used hose reel jets and foam as well as breathing apparatus to tackle the flames in heavy land machinery at the Ringwood Road site.

Mr Guppy said: “We don’t know much more at the moment and we’ve got to let the fire service get on with it so hopefully they can find out what happened.”