00:00Battle Lane is a road cutting straight through the rural heart of Tunbridge and it's only a few minutes drive away from the small village of Marden, normally a very quiet and peaceful area.
00:10But in the early hours of Wednesday morning that quiet was disturbed by the sounds of sirens and the air was filled with thick black smoke as a home in the area caught a light along with several other outbuildings.
00:21The incident took 11 hours, 11 fire engines, two bulk water carriers and a technical rescue unit to be able to fully extinguish the fire.
00:30The result is as you can see now a shell of a house with only bricks, beams and rubble remaining.
00:36A spokesperson for Kent Fire and Rescue said that the property was vacant at the time of the fire and no injuries have been reported but the cause is believed to be deliberate.
00:45We spoke to locals in the village of Marden to get a sense of whether or not a fire of this scale is normal, especially in such a small rural pocket of Kent.
00:55Do you expect to see these sorts of things happening in Marden? And then, no, not at all. It's not common. The odd barn fire perhaps, but nothing serious.
01:04No, not really, no, not really, no. Many years ago, we used to be all fish and chip shop years ago.
01:11Yeah, oh yeah, fish and chip shop. That was years and years ago. Yeah, years ago. Yeah, that was in the 70s, really. Yeah, yeah.
01:18Apart from that, ain't nothing, was it? No, no, no. No, sir. No, no, no. Very strange that happened. We don't have fire like this.
01:27So, I've only really lived here for about six months and, to be honest, this is the first time I've heard of a fire.
01:34Sometimes on the train line, when I'm going towards Clumbridge, I've seen a few fires around the fields around there.
01:40But other than that, I haven't really seen any fires other than that.
01:42Kent Police have since released a statement about the incident on their website and they say that detectives are appealing for more information
01:49after a house in Marden was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
01:52The vacant Battle Lane property was reportedly set alight, along with outbuildings, during the early hours of Wednesday, the 20th of August.
02:00Kent Fire and Rescue Service was called at around 12.40am and the extensive fire was brought under control and extinguished several hours later.
02:08Police officers also attended to assist with the scene and there were no reported injuries.
02:13They also mentioned that an investigation is currently underway and officers are urging anyone with any relevant information to contact them.
02:19And with Kent Police's investigation still ongoing, the family and locals in the village hope that answers can be found to this unexpected incident.
02:29Finn McDermid for KMTV in Marden.
Comments