Fire,fire!

What a welcome home we had last night! As we pulled up to our house we had a strong smell of smoke. The night before on our way to london my neighbour had phoned and said there was a problem down our lane with kids making a fire in the field next to our house. Our neighbour had called the police who in turn had called the fire brigade. We live at the bottom of a narrow country lane, extremely difficult to get any oversized vehicle down!!
It seems some youths had set a fire on private property , on our return home they had obviously decided to come back for round 2.
Unfortunately we live next to a very old property set in its own grounds, its a listed building that the owner wants to knock down and build luxury apartments. Council won't let him (thankfully, can you imagine wagons coming down our already potholed lane?) So its left to crumble,and a playground for youths in lighter nights. It always becomes a bit of a problem in the summer months and it looks like its starting right now.
So we pull up on our drive , jj ran up the steps and opened our door to let our barking dogs out. He could see a fire over the wall and voices of kids screaming. As jj grabbed the big torch he shouted at me to call the police. Running off down the drive to go and check out what was going on. I'm shouting at him not to go and calling the police. The phone operator tells me that I should call the fire brigade if its a fire, I'm proceeding to tell her what the situation is and still shouting at jj not to go. At which she says he must not go! In case of danger and public safety. I'm also shouting at Charlie and Arnie who are barking like crazy- too which she gets most annoyed and panicky asking how many men are going down to sort these kids out!! I have to admit I had a silent giggle as I explained I was talking about the dogs. She was obviously imagining some gang warfare taking place.....
As you can imagine by the time the police and fire brigade did arrive all my shouting and the dogs barking had scared off the youths but left the fire burning away. The fire brigade quickly extinguished it, while the police searched the surrounding area in case anyone was hiding in the bushes.
It really does get your heart pounding and stress levels to the roof. I'm certainly not hoping for a repeat episode tonight.
It really is about time the premises and grounds were a bit more secure. I guess its just bored teenagers having a camp fire and get together but on private property and rather rowdily. So dangerous lighting fires in woodlands(remember australia) I know its not quite so dry here but still could run wild. Last year they set fire to an actual tree!! Madness. Always beer cans and rubbish strewn about, really makes us feel like relocating. We love our home but it does make you nervous and waiting for the next incident to happen. Hopefully the police may take it further and get the owner to take a bit more responsibility.
Anyway so far tonight peace and quite, off to get an early night as long day tomorrow- Jjs birthday too...
Goodnight all,
Love
Dawn xx