An 82-year-old woman was left struggling to breathe after arsonists set fire to her property.
Janet Reaney had been at home on Malpas Road in Newport shortly after midnight on Saturday, August 7, when the 12 foot tall hedge next to her bungalow was said to have been doused in petrol and ignited.
Flames reaching up to 80 feet high were reportedly seen, but the pensioner was only alerted to the blaze by two police officers who happened to be passing by.
Read more:Family home in Liswerry, Newport, burned down in firework attack
“My mum was at the other end of the house, so she didn’t realise there was this huge fire raging just outside, ” said her son Dai Reaney, a HGV driver who was driving home from Scotland at the time.
“The first she knew about it was when two police officers knocked the door and rushed around the side to tackle the fire with her garden hose.
“Luckily they’d been en route to another call nearby when they spotted the flames and managed to keep control of things until the fire brigade turned up.
“Mum suffers with a lung condition and ended up struggling to breathe from all the thick smoke and horrendous heat. She nearly collapsed and had to be given oxygen.”
(Image: Dai Reaney)
(Image: Dai Reaney)
The 58-year-old added that one fire fighter told him that the bungalow was minutes away from catching alight.
“I’ve looked at the CCTV footage from outside my mother’s house and spotted two lads hanging about seconds before the fire starts. Not long afterwards you can see them doing the same to another hedge further along the road,” said Dai.
“A kids’ nursery nearby was also targeted.
“It beggars belief that someone could do this and they need to be caught.
“If they aren’t then someone’s going to end up getting seriously hurt or killed.”
A statement from Gwent Police confirmed it had received a report of a fire in Malpas Road at around 12.05am on Saturday, August 7 “after a number of trees were reportedly set alight”.
A spokesperson for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service added that the blaze was “suspected to be deliberate”.
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