Cause of Farmer Parrs fire not known as man on mountain bike becomes police line of enquiry

An investigation was launched on Friday evening after Farmer Parrs Animal World on Rossall Lane was believed to have been targeted by an arsonist.

An outbuilding at the children’s farm, which housed numerous animals including alpacas, horses, cattle, deer and donkeys, caught fire at around 9.45pm.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) received reports of a fire involving one of the farm’s outbuildings on Rossall Lane in the town shortly before 10pm.

The service sent four fire engines and crews from Fleetwood, Bispham and Blackpool’s stations to tackle the flames. The fire caused ‘substantial damage’, inset, according to the animal park.

As emergency services look into the incident a spokesman for Farmer Parrs posted on Facebook the following day that a man on a mountain bike was caught on CCTV at around the same time the fire started.

The post on the animal park’s official Facebook page said: “Nobody and no animals were hurt but a substantial amount of damage has been caused. Had the fire not been discovered, it could have resulted in the loss of life.

“If anyone has any information regarding a male riding a mountain bike wearing light coloured pants riding around the Rossall area at around 9pm - 10pm please contact the police.

“We cannot understand why anyone would be out on a bike at this time during lockdown, or want to put further strain on the emergency services at this extremely difficult time.”

Fire crews were at the incident for approximately two hours according to LFRS and firefighters had to use four breathing apparatus and two hose reels to extinguish the fire. LFRS didn’t report anyone being injured following the incident and it’s not believed any of the animals were hurt.

Yesterday a spokesman for the service said: “The cause of the fire is unknown at this moment in time and is still under investigation.”

A Lancashire Police spokesman said the incident was initially thought to be non-suspicious however officers were later told about the CCTV image.

The spokesman added: “It is line of enquiry for us so will be investigated. No one has been arrested in connection with incident currently.”