Four people were rescued from a block of flats in Brighton after an arsonist started a fire there in the small hours of Tuesday morning (8 May).
An investigation is under way after the fire brigade said that two fires were reported at Manhattan Court, in Tongdean Lane, Brighton, within four hours.
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said: “On (Monday) 7 May at 9.44pm Brighton firefighters attended a fire in a residential property in Tongdean Lane, Brighton.
“The fire had emanated from a cupboard containing electric meters and fuse boards. Crews used two breathing apparatus and CO2 to extinguish the fire.
“On (Tuesday) 8 May at 12.34am crews from Hove and Brighton attended a fire at a residential property in Tongdean Lane, Brighton.
“Crews used four breathing apparatus, two hose reel jets and a positive pressure ventilation fan to extinguish the fire.
“Crews rescued four residents from the property.
“A fire investigation was carried out and the fire was believed to have been deliberate.”
The criminal investigation has been handed over to Sussex Police.
One witness said that everyone in the block made it out safely when the first fire broke out in a communal hallway.
The witness said that there were two other places in the building where fires started and a belief that someone set the building alight purposely.
As a result, said the witness, there was a police presence overnight.
The fire service tackled a number of other fires in Brighton and Hove over the bank holiday weekend, as well as car crashes and a flood. They also rescued three people trapped in a lift and a bird trapped in a grille.
Crews from Preston Circus, in Brighton, and from Hove went to the aid of the bird which was snagged in a fascia grille in First Avenue, Hove, just after midday on Monday.
Firefighters used an aerial ladder platform to release the bird, the fire service said, adding that the bird was then released into the care of the RSPCA.
Shortly before 5pm on Monday crews from Hove and Preston Circus were sent to flats in Lansdowne Road, Hove, where they released three people who were stuck in a lift.
A car and motorbike crashed in Eastern Road, Brighton, at lunchtime on Saturday (5 May). Firefighters from Seaford “made the scene safe”.
Earlier, just after 10am, Brighton firefighters dealt with a car fire on the A23 southbound, using a hose reel jet to put out the blaze.
And at lunchtime on Monday Hove firefighters dealt with a crash in Granville Road, near the Seven Dials. A van had smashed into a garden wall.
On Sunday shortly before 12.30am firefighters from Newhaven answered a call-out to a property in Lansdowne Place, Hove, to deal with reports of flooding water. The fire service said: “Crews isolated the leak.”
Crews from Preston Circus put out a bin fire in York Road, Hove, shortly before 8pm on Monday.
On Saturday morning just before 11am, the fire service said, crews from Roedean and Brighton tackled a fire in a bedroom in a home in Haybourne Road, Whitehawk.
Shortly before 11.30pm on the same day crews from Preston Circus, Lewes and Barcombe put out a fire in the conservatory of a house in Malthouse Way, Cooksbridge, just outside Lewes.
The fire service said: “Crews used six breathing apparatus, three hose reel jets, one hydrant and two positive pressure ventilation fans to extinguish the fire.”
