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Man quizzed over Brighton YMCA blaze

4:00pm Thursday 9th July 2009 in


A man has been questioned by police over a major fire at a hostel which left 60 people homeless.

Sussex Police yesterday revealed they had arrested a 29-year-old Brighton man on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life following Tuesday's blaze at Brighton YMCA in Old Steine.

The man was arrested in Hove and quizzed before being released on bail until August 13 while officers carry out further inquiries.

Police would not say if he was a resident at the hostel.

The blaze started on the first floor of the hostel at about 4.50pm. Twelve fire crews from across the city and from Barcombe and Lewes fought to contain the fire by 6pm.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said staff managed to house everyone in temporary accommodation with people being housed in hotels and bed and breakfasts in the city and Eastbourne.

Its efforts however were criticised by some of the homeless residents.

Daniel Coe, 25, said the Salvation Army and Red Cross were helping with clothes and other essentials but that not enough was being done to help people.

He said: “We are very grateful but at the end of the day if this was someone else it would be different.

“I knew a girl who when her flat went up in flames they gave her a £200 voucher for clothes.

“We were sent to the Job Centre to fill in forms which aren't going to be processed until Friday.

“We haven't had a hot meal, we are not getting fed – it's a nightmare.

“Where's the organisation? Where are the people who deal with these cases? They put us in places with no cooking facilities.”

In response to the residents' criticism a spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “The response of our dedicated and hard working staff to this situation was first rate and we vehemently reject any suggestion otherwise.

“More than 30 officers worked through the night, many not stopping for well over 24 hours, to re-house the 60 residents affected.”

The exact cause of the blaze was still being investigated yesterday.

Comments(13)

cantmoveforbins says...
4:24pm Thu 9 Jul 09

Can I suggest that you get rid of the crap in the right hand column of this page so that news articles can be read in lines wider than a poultry 60 characters?

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jyan says...
4:36pm Thu 9 Jul 09

"A man has been questioned by police over a major fire"

These new questioning tactics sound a bit torturous...

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Jim BB says...
4:46pm Thu 9 Jul 09

I think Daniel should be grateful that people are actually trying to help instead of complaining that someone else was given vouchers.

He has a roof over his head after some idiot set fire to where he used to live - only one person is to blame here, the arsonist and everyone else is just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Daniel could try helping himself (and others) instead of moaning.

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davyboy says...
4:53pm Thu 9 Jul 09

Jim BB wrote:
I think Daniel should be grateful that people are actually trying to help instead of complaining that someone else was given vouchers.

He has a roof over his head after some idiot set fire to where he used to live - only one person is to blame here, the arsonist and everyone else is just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Daniel could try helping himself (and others) instead of moaning.
of course he could help himself, he could get a job. he could have been left to fend for himself, but the red cross and sally army are doing their best. it is obviously no fun to lose your home, but folk are trying to help, but they cannot do it on their own.

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Baguette says...
4:57pm Thu 9 Jul 09

A few years ago i worked for a homeless charity. I used to have a degree of empathy for this lot, though the longer you work with these people the more you discover how utterly self-involved they all are. Absolutely no thought for anyone else but themselves. Ok, some of these individuals have had a rough time of things at some stage of their lives, but they have to try and start taking responsibility for themselves and stop moaning and blaming others. Most of these homeless men and women make little or no progress. They just wait for their benefits to arrive and blow it all on drugs and booze.

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ShorehamBeachcomber says...
5:52pm Thu 9 Jul 09

no hot meal eh, how terrible..just a nice gazpacho with dressed crab to follow and strawberries & cream for dessert...it breaks your heart it really does...

security word get a job then buy a hot burger if your that keen

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Granny says...
6:04pm Thu 9 Jul 09

What is wrong with these people trying to help themseves instead of expecting everything to be handed to them on a plate. Everything I have has been achieved by hard work and it makes me cross to hear these folks moaning that not enough is being done for them. Get off your backsides and do something to help yourselves for a change.

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UglyAmerican says...
8:50pm Thu 9 Jul 09

They don't like to be called homeless. the more PC term is "Urban Outdoorsman".

When encountered in the wild, they are easily repelled with liquid soap.

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freewheelingdom says...
9:29pm Thu 9 Jul 09

I used to live in this place. The workers there unqualified at their job, and some of the cleaners there are cliptomaniacs and even steal off the residents there. Whilst living there you have no human rights and the food is unedible. The residents will be processed by some crud social workers who don't know what the crud they're on about and only live to say: "I'm a social worker look at me", but really they are no more qualified than the people they are pretending are third rate citizens. Like I said, third rate citizens, come on, even ants look after their wounded. This should be a civilized society where we are all treated as equals! Give em a life.

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freewheelingdom says...
11:05pm Thu 9 Jul 09

Sorry. Last post: kleptomaniac, not cliptomaniac.

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Pat Mustard says...
9:05am Fri 10 Jul 09

UglyAmerican wrote:
They don't like to be called homeless. the more PC term is "Urban Outdoorsman". When encountered in the wild, they are easily repelled with liquid soap.
Or as I overheard a security gard in Las Vegas say; 'Residentially Challenged'.

If Daniel had lost (or ever had) £200 worth of clothes then I would be a bit more sympathetic. If you don't like it, do something about it. No point in just whining and moaning when everything you have is just handed to you on a plate anyway. T0sser

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Andy R says...
2:58pm Fri 10 Jul 09

It must have been traumatic for Daniel to lose his home in those circumstances. Hopefully when he has had a chance to reflect, he will have some appreciation of the hard work which was done to accommodate 60 people within a matter of hours of the fire.

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brightonborn&bred says...
10:48pm Fri 10 Jul 09

Brighton council pulled together brilliantly to place 62 people in the space of 4hours! Nobody can argue with that. No one was left without a roof that night.

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