WATCH: Cause of fire along Skegness beach front was "deliberate" says fire service
A blaze which swept along Skegness beachfront on Friday was started deliberately, the fire service has now confirmed.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue received reports of an extensive fire in the sand dunes area off South Parade on the evening of July 17.
Multiple fire crews and police rushed to the scene – with the blaze having caused damaged to a 1000sq area by the time it was extinguished.
"We received the first call at 7.20pm on Friday,” a spokesperson for the service said.
“Two crews from Skegness attended, and a further three from Spilsby, Alford and Mablethorpe. A water carrier and a command support unit were also in attendance. There was significant fire damage to about 1,000m2 of gorse.
"The investigation has concluded and our control team have now confirmed the cause was deliberate.”
While the fire service has not yet revealed any details about what was used to start the fire, local photographers who visited the scene the following day took images and drone footage of a box of firelighters on the edge of the burnt area.
One of these was Barry Robinson, who shared his footage with us and said: “I have just taken some drone [footage] of the remains of the fire and found a box of burnt fire lighters.”
The Standard has approached Lincolnshire Police for a comment.