Over 100 vehicles torched

The Son Reus vehicle pound has been hit by fire again, but this time over 100 vehicles were destroyed or damaged by the blaze which raged into the early hours of yesterday morning. The fire is believed to have started just after 11pm on Friday night, but spread very quickly. One of the first members of the Local Police to reach the scene said that he was met by at least three different fires, leading him to immediately suspect that the fires had been started deliberately. Four Palma fire trucks rushed to the scene, with back up from three water trucks provided by EMAYA. As flames of over eight metres leapt into the night sky, fire fighters and EMAYA engineers pumped thousands of litres of water on to the blaze as a series of small explosions went off and a thick column of black smoke, which could be seen as far away as Palmanova, climbed high up over the burning vehicle depot. Fire fighters battled passed midnight and well into the early hours of yesterday morning. A little after 1am the fire was declared under control, but it took fire fighters a couple of hours longer to extinguish the fire and secure the area. Yesterday morning, heavy lifting and earth moving machinery was brought in to move the destroyed cars and at mid day, some of the vehicles were still smouldering. Over the past few months, there have been a number of fires at the Son Reus vehicle depot. Police believe that they are possibly dealing with a gang of youths which keeps returning to the depot and setting vehicles on fire, but this latest blaze has been the worst to date and police are going to review security at the depot next week.