A CONTINUING spate of arson attacks on trees in Bewdley has sparked fears among firefighters that the young culprits could go on to commit more serious offences.

Sub officer Mick Rowlands, of Kidderminster Fire Station, spoke out after a crew had to tackle a blazing tree in the grounds of St Anne's first and middle schools at 7pm on Friday.

He said he had known of "at least half a dozen" incidents of youngsters setting fire to single trees in the area in the last couple of months.

This followed a warning from Bewdley Fire Station sub officer Paul Gittins three months ago.

He said young arsonists had torched eight trees in nine weeks and predicted the consequences could be dire as crews from Bewdley and Stourport had been tied up with two separate tree blazes and were not able to back up their Kidderminster counterparts tackling a potentially fatal fire.

Mr Rowlands said a group of children had been spotted running away from the latest burning tree and that matches had been found at the scene.

"These recent incidents could be copycat fires so we can never really speculate," he added.

"But it needs to be stamped on or it could escalate to something more serious. They start with singles trees and get bigger and bigger. It's a well-known phenomenon to fire safety officers."

Anyone with any information about the identity of the young arsonists should call Kidderminster Police on 01562 820888.