A NUMBER of vehicles were set on fire in Stonehouse last night after thieves attempted to steal them.

Four caravans were burnt out on Lower Mills car park close to Paper & Bag Mills Ltd on Upper Mills Trading Estate.

Another caravan, two camper vans and two cars were damaged, with the heat from the blaze causing them to melt.

It is believed the fire started at around 12.45am when thieves were trying to cut the lock off one of the vans.

There are reports of a motorbike leaving the area at the time.

The fire service were on the scene within four minutes of being called, and quickly had the fire under control.

The manager of the car park, who did not want to be named, warned caravan owners to be on their guard: “There’s obviously some thieves around. I wouldn’t be surprised if others had been taken.

“We are just lucky the fire did not spread further,” she said.

Neighbours were awoken by explosions caused by the fire and described scenes of ‘flying glass and debris’.

Neighbour David Hogg said: “There was an orange glow, it was just all ablaze. Everything was exploding, all the tyres were blowing up.

“We were all out here but there was nothing we could do. They should not park that close together.

This is not the first time the caravan park has been targeted, with two caravans having been stolen in the last two years.

Sally Waldron, group manager for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “We were called to a caravan fire in Bridgend, Stonehouse, just before 1am on 4th July. We sent three fire engines, two from Stroud and one from Gloucester.

"We successfully put the fire out and now we’re working with the police to investigate how it started.”

The incident is being treated as suspicious but there were no casualties.

Police have spoken to witnesses and house-to-house enquiries are ongoing.

Anyone with information should call the police on 101 quoting incident number 32 of July 4.