Church doors set on fire

Oct 2 2009

FIRE raising vandals have torched a village church.

They deliberately set fire to the doors of Dalrymple Parish Church in the early hours of Monday morning.

And the attack has sickened the village minister, who insists that only the quick actions of firefighters and heavy timber doors stopped the blaze from spreading.

Rev Jim Crichton explained that the alarm was raised by a neighbour, who saw smoke pouring from the building at 7.45am.

When firefighters arrived on the scene the huge wooden doors were well ablaze.

He said: “The fire service was excellent. They were on the scene very quickly.

“Thank goodness the doors were as big and heavy as they were because they helped stop the fire from spreading.”

The doors to the 159-year-old church were destroyed but fortunately the building itself suffered only minor smoke damage.

Rev Crichton explained that it’s not the first time that the church has been targeted by vandals, but explained that the latest attack is the worst yet.

He said: “This fire wasn’t caused by a discarded cigarette. It was started quite deliberately.

“Whoever is responsible probably thought it was a funny thing to do and they couldn’t be more wrong.

“The damage will have to be repaired now and that will take time and money.

“The worst of it is that it was probably started by someone from the village.

“I wouldn’t have thought that someone would have come from out of the area to do this.”

PC Chris Poulter appealed to the public to help him identify those responsible.

If you can help contact him on 01292 550322.