RUBBISH left in an alleyway adjoining an Okehampton business was maliciously set alight last week nearly causing major damage to nearby buildings.
The fire was started in the alleyway near an Indian takeaway in East Street, in the early hours of Friday morning.
Luckily the fire was spotted by an alert policeman who contacted Okehampton Fire Brigade at 3.20am. The flames were rising quite high and had begun to ignite timber work on the building.
The Okehampton firecrew attended the scene and put out the initial fire quickly, but still had to tackle the fire developing within the fabric of the building by removing some affected timbers.
Station officer Ian Donovan said the fire could have been much larger had it not been spotted at an early stage.
He said the incident should serve as a reminder to businesses in the Okehampton area to avoid storing combustible materials in shop doorways and accessible rears or premises as they could also be the victims of malicious fire-starting.