Watch as huge fire breaks out at West Lothian dog park with owners forced to close business for safety reasons
Owners of a dog park in West Lothian have been left with thousands of pounds worth of damage after a wooden shelter went up in flames.
Owen and Natalie Jardine, who own The Paw Park in Broxburn - secure dog park that can be hired by dog owners to allow a safe environment for their dogs to run off lead, received a call at around 8pm on Monday, July 22, informing them that a structure at their park was on fire.
Owen, who immediately made his way to the park, said: “I got a phone call from a resident across the road in Broxburn saying ‘just to make you aware we’re seeing a lot of smoke coming from your park and it looks to be a fire’. You can imagine I was like ‘wow, fire, really?’”
When Owen got there he said the fire brigade were already on site. “The station is five minutes away so the fire brigade actually said they saw the smoke and were already on route when they were getting called,” he said.
“I could see the smoke from my house which was a mile away, as soon as I came outside I went ‘oh dear there's something big on fire.”
Images taken at the scene show huge orange flames and plumes of black smoke coming from a wooden shelter, which Owen said was housing some furniture. And Owen said the shed has been ‘burnt to the ground’.
“We’ve got thousands of pounds of damage, it's been burnt to the ground,” he said. “We’re just a husband and wife small business locally, we don't make a massive amount out of it. We’ve not insured it because we didn't think that would ever happen.
“It's closed just now and luckily the local farmer is helping because obviously we’ve got a big pile of burnt nails and shreds. It's not safe for dogs.”
Owen now fears that the fire has been set deliberately, after a father who was in a nearby field at the time said he saw a group of teenagers in the area.
“There were kids playing football and he said he saw kids climbing in and then he saw that happen. He never saw kids lighting it but he saw kids climbing the fence going into the park and then minutes later that happened.”
He added that the fire crews at the scene shared the same concerns.
“They said this has been arson for that to go up in the way it did, someone deliberately set that alight,” said Owen.
With help from the farmer to clear the damage The Paw Park are hoping to open up again next week and have asked anyone with any information to get in touch with them directly.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has been approached for comment.