ARSONISTS have today been blamed for a late night fire which caused damage worth thousands of pounds to the gardens of two Felixstowe families. The Hessey and Waren families, next door neighbours in St Mary's Close, Trimley St Mary, were woken as flames ripped through their adjacent garden sheds yesterday.

ARSONISTS have today been blamed for a late night fire which caused damage worth thousands of pounds to the gardens of two Felixstowe families.

The Hessey and Waren families, next door neighbours in St Mary's Close, Trimley St Mary, were woken as flames ripped through their adjacent garden sheds yesterday.

Firefighters and police officers from the town attended the homes at approximately 1.40am and police have confirmed the fire is now being treated as arson.

Shaun Waren, his wife Lorraine and two children, aged 11 and three-and-a-half, lost a £3,000 trials motorbike, a £450 bathroom suite and tools to the blaze.

He said: "It was just so hot it melted everything.

"I heard the fire engines and got up but I presumed it was for a house on the other side of the road so I went back to bed.

"It wasn't until the police knocked and told us I realised our shed was on fire.

"The whole family feels down today."

The blaze started in the Hesseys' family shed and spread to the neighbouring shed before fire crews could calm the flames.

Carley Hessey, 34, lives with her husband Andrew, a power plant worker, and children Daniel, nine, and Lauren, six.

She said: "I heard a bang and got up to look out of the window and couldn't understand at first why everything was glowing orange.

"I didn't think of fire until we actually saw the flames.

"Luckily all our tools and bikes were in another shed and it was mostly junk, like half used tins of paint, which were ruined.

"It was the bangs when the lids came off the paint pots which woke us up.

"The first thing I did was get the children out of the house and to Andrew's mum's house up the road.

"I'm sure it was started deliberately. It's getting a joke in this area. The rear windscreen of our car was smashed just before Christmas."

Anyone with information about the arson is asked to telephone Felixstowe CID on 01473 613500.

Meanwhile firefighters in Ipswich fought a fire in a derelict house in Stoke Street, which broke out shortly before 8pm yesterday.

Crews from the Princes Street and Colchester Road stations tackled the fire and had it extinguished by 8.25pm.

No one is thought to have been inside the house at the time of the fire.