Suspicious fires at Basin Reserve in Wellington

Published: 11:45PM Thursday June 09, 2011 Source: Newstalk ZB/ONE News

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  Source: ONE News

Police say two fires at the Basin Reserve in Wellington late tonight are being treated as suspicious.

Firefighters were called to the iconic cricket ground just before 10pm.

Wellington Fire Service shift manager Belinda Beets says the first fire was in the grandstand and the second was in a toilet block south of the grandstand.

Three appliances were needed to put out the fires.

Paul Lyle, a firefighter at the scene, said they arrived to find a pile of plastic crates on fire that had started to set the building alight. Firefighters managed to put that fire out before it took hold.

While firefighters were dealing with that, police told them there was another fire at the southern end of the ground where rubbish had been set alight in the toilet block.  

Beets says they're treating the blazes as suspicious and fire investigators were at the scene late into the night.

Were you near the Basin? Do you have pictures or video? Email news@tvnz.co.nz