A FIREFIGHTER today told how crews were left struggling against a bottle-throwing crowd as they tried to get into a nightclub after an arson attack.The fire broke out just before midnight in Liquid, at Cardinal Park, Ipswich, yesterday.

A FIREFIGHTER today told how crews were left struggling against a bottle-throwing crowd as they tried to get into a nightclub after an arson attack.

The fire broke out just before midnight in Liquid, at Cardinal Park, Ipswich, yesterday.

Liquid and nearby Brannigans and Old Orleans were all evacuated – resulting in 400 to 500 people being evacuated from the Ipswich nightspots.

Fire crews and police had to contain a rowdy crowd, some of whom were chanting and throwing bottles.

Firefighters managed to reach the blaze – and found paper and electrical cables being stored in a toilet in the staff storeroom had caught alight.

Leading firefighter Darren Cooper said: "When we got there, there was a lot of crowd trouble and bottle-throwing and fighting outside. It definitely obstructed our work. No firefighters were injured, but there was no way under those conditions that we could have tackled a major fire.

"This was literally ticker tape and electrical cabling. There wasn't anything obvious there which has an igniting force – and everything needs an ignition.

"At the moment it is, without a doubt, being treated as a suspicious incident.

"If it had been left unnoticed or if we had been unable to get there because of the crowd trouble then it could have been dangerous.

"If someone started it, that would have been absolutely mindless – especially as Liquid was just getting to capacity."

A fire investigation team and scenes of crime officers have been involved and a full investigation is under way.