ARSONISTS were being hunted today after a beach hut was torched on Felixstowe seafront.Firefighters managed to stop the blaze spreading to wooden huts alongside – but had to act quickly as the burning chalet contained a gas cylinder.

ARSONISTS were being hunted today after a beach hut was torched on Felixstowe seafront.

Firefighters managed to stop the blaze spreading to wooden huts alongside – but had to act quickly as the burning chalet contained a gas cylinder.

Hut owners have been repeatedly warned not to leave gas bottles, fuel for cooking on stoves, in their huts in case they are targeted by hooligans as the canisters could explode.

The yellow painted hut in Sea Road was set alight at about 10.40pm last night. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used water fog hoses to damp the flames and stop the fire spreading.

Today the hut was still standing but a charred shell with its contents wrecked.

Felixstowe police confirmed that the fire was being treated as arson and appealed for anyone who was in the area – between Charles Manning's funfair and the Herman de Stern – and may have seen anything suspicious to contact them on 01473 613500.

n Meanwhile, a Felixstowe woman told today how her smoke alarm saved her home from serious damage after her boiler caught fire.

Kim Sharplin said she had run some water to boil a kettle when she heard the alarm going off at her home in Victoria Road.

"I could hear the alarm pipping and started to search in case there was a problem. Then I heard some banging as if someone was in the roof," she said.

Minutes later smoke started pouring from the boiler in a lobby near the kitchen and she immediately dialed 999.

Two fire crews attended and managed to prevent the bungalow from suffering serious damage.