A FIRE chief said he believes arsonists started a fire that took two-and-a-half hours to put out.

Two crews from Farnworth fire station were called to Thynne Street, Bolton, at 6.30pm on Wednesday, July 7, after receiving a report of a storage container on fire at a textiles factory.

Watch commander Ben Cartwright said: “A few rolls of material had been left up against the container and it looks like someone has jumped over the fence and set fire to it.

“What these arsonists need to realise is that, it might be fun for them to start a fire, but it ties two of our crews up for two-anda- half hours and puts lives at risk if there should be an emergency elsewhere.”

He added: “The container had about 200 rolls of material in it, so we spent a lot of time moving them away.”