A BOAT in a dry dock at Felixstowe today caught ablaze, leading to an hour-long fight by fire crews to bring the flames under control.

A FIRE which destroyed two boats in Felixstowe could have been started by mechanical sparks, the boatyard owner said today.

Andrew Moore was woken by firefighters as he slept in the early hours of the morning yesterday when a blaze swept through the Felixstowe Ferry Boatyard.

Mr Moore, who owns the yard on Ferry Road, was alerted by fire crews who went to the blaze, at just after midnight.

The fire started on a 20-foot wooden naval pinnace in a dry dock and the flames spread to a 32-foot motorboat called Blue Fin.

Four fire crews battled to bring the flames under control for an hour but neither of the boats could be saved.

Mr Moore said: “The yard was shut at the time and I was woken by a phone call.

“By the time I got here the fire was roaring and I couldn't do anything except watch the firefighters.

“It's terrible when boats get ruined like this. I'm pretty sure the fire was started by sparks.

“We've not had anything like this at the yard before that I can remember.”

The wooden boat was owned by a Felixstowe man who lived in a property next to the boatyard. Mr Moore said he had been working on the boat.

At 1am yesterday, crews went to Pykenham Way in Hadleigh where there was a large pile of rubbish alight.

And at 2.20am, a Hadleigh crew was called out to another rubbish fire. Litter in the back garden of the Eight Bells pub, Angel Street was ablaze.

On Friday there was a fire in a storage container at Hawes Street, Ipswich, at 11.45pm, and another at a

block of garages off Stratford Road, at 4.15pm.