A charity which helps prevent people drowning had their building with their quad bike inside torched last night as fire services raced to save the building.
For the last eight years, Brighton Beach Patrol have been operating on Brighton beach each night with their quad bike, and volunteer members, looking out for vulnerable beachgoers.
But the building, close to the bottom of West Street, has been set alight and damaged, with one man arrested by police.
Currently on her “dream” holiday in Mexico, owner Louise Roberts said: “I got a phone call from my son who helps with the charity.
“He said there is a fire.”
She recalls her heart sinking, saying that everyone in the family-run charity is “Devastated to be hit with something so horrendous and malicious”, and the holiday is “not important” compared to the gravity of this.
Louise fears that the lifesaving charity might be off-duty for only the second Saturday since its creation in 2014.
She said: “In those years there was only one Saturday we’ve not been on the beach.
“And on that night someone took their life.”
She went straight into preparing contingencies, and she said: “I’m hoping Brighton Beach office will loan one of their daytime ones” until the extent of the damage is established.
Louise also issued a heartfelt plea to the public.
“If we could have any support from the public in the way of helping us rebuild the unit, any local builders, electricians, roofers,
“Anyone that can help get the unit back into a livable space where we can help the community.”
She said it would be upsetting if this marked the end of the beach-based charity. “It has to be operational. It saves lives every weekend.”
Louise said “We have most of our mental health calls in the winter. It is our most sensitive time when we save so many people. It’s completely heartbreaking.”
She said that the fire has not only “destroyed a unit and a quad bike but is actually destroying someone’s life.”
The damage caused to the quadbike is not yet known, as the exterior is so damaged that access is not possible. Dramatic photographs and video show the unit, along with an adjacent bench ablaze.
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said: “We were called at 1.17am to reports of a fire affecting outdoor structures. One fire engine attended. One hose reel was used to put out a fire affecting a bench and a beach hut. There are no reports of injuries.”
A Sussex Police spokesman said: “A man was arrested at the scene of a fire next to the Brighton beach patrol hut in the early hours of Thursday morning (December 1). Firefighters and police were called to the seafront at 1.18am after a man was seen acting suspiciously in the area where the fire had taken hold. Benches and the hut were damaged.
“A 23-year-old man of no fixed address was arrested on suspicion of arson. He remained in custody at 1.45pm on Thursday."
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