A SPATE of fires around Garnant and Glanaman has sparked fears of an arsonist at work in the two villages.

Firefighters spent more than five hours tackling the latest blaze at Gelli Werdd Park, Glanaman, on Friday.

That fire followed an almost identical incident in the park less than a month ago and that in turn came just weeks after the Workmen’s Hall in Garnant was set alight.

Garnant councillor Kevin Madge told the Guardian: “I’m really worried that there is someone out there deliberately starting fires.

“There is a lot of woodland and trees up in the park as well as a large number of houses nearby.

“Thank God the fire service was able to stop this latest fire spreading anywhere else.

“Somebody is deliberately lighting these fires – they are putting lives at risk.

“We cannot be sure the same person who started the park fires set light to the Workmen’s Hall, but it is a strange coincidence.”

Councillor Madge called on the community to come together in a bid to catch the culprit.

“Somebody is doing it and this person needs to be stopped.

“This was not the first incident,” he said.

“They need to be prosecuted – it is arson plain and simple.

They need to be stopped before they do serious damage or even worse.”

A spokesman for the Mid and West Wales Fire Service confirmed that firefighters had attended the blaze, which began “as several small fires” at 3.26pm on Friday.

An appliance from Amman Valley was joined at the scene of the blaze by the rural response unit from Ammanford.

The crews were finally able to douse the fire at 8.30pm.

“This was a relatively protracted incident,” the service spokesman said.