FIRE-RAISERS are being hunted after a pile of rubbish was wedged against the door of a block of flats and torched.

A fridge-freezer and other debris were set alight at the back door of the building, in Blackbyres Road, Barrhead.

Residents raised the alarm after the blaze broke out at around midnight on Saturday.

It is the latest in a spate of fires started in communal areas in flats across Glasgow and East Renfrewshire.

Strathclyde Police asked for witnesses, or anyone with information about the fire to contact them.

The blaze comes after Strathclyde Fire and Rescue's Assistant Chief Officer Lewis Ramsay told the Evening Times: "Until now we have been very fortunate, but I believe a person – or people – will be killed because of this reckless behaviour.

"The people that carry out these acts are putting others in extreme danger.

"It is so difficult to understand the mindset of these people and why they would want to do something like this.

"I have no doubt we will see a loss of life if this is to continue."

Residents had to be rescued from a fire in a three-storey building in Banner Drive, Knightswood, last week.

One man believed to be in his 70s was taken to the Western Infirmary after breathing in smoke.

A day earlier firebugs set alight a wheelie bin and two foam-filled sofas at the bottom of a common stairway in Charlotte Street in the East End.

Bins have been set alight in Toryglen, an elderly couple had to flee a fire at their home in Cathcart and another couple had to be treated for smoke inhalation in Pollokshields.

rebecca.gray@ heraldandtimes.co.uk

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