Mindless vandals set fire to a children’s slide in a play park in Inverness yesterday morning.
Firefighters received the first 999 call at about 7.55am – before seven more calls were made by shocked residents – and crews had extinguished the flames about 12 minutes later.
Smithton Residents’ Association chairwoman Lorraine Robertson said a friend had called police on Wednesday night after spotting a group of children trying to set fire to rubbish by the slide.
She said a council maintenance team responded quickly yesterday morning to remove the melted chute which posed a safety concern with its jagged, protruding metal edges.
She added: “It’s devastating, we are heartbroken. The park is used every single day by families and we’ve had absolutely amazing feedback from parents and grandparents taking their children to the park.
“I feel it’s a great loss because the association is trying to make things a bit better for the community of Smithton, and it means that we have got to put more work and money in to fix it. It could be the case the community will have to pay something towards it.”
The chute and other parts of the climbing frame were badly damaged by the flames.
The apparatus, which cost £76,000, was installed in time for the school October holidays and funded by Highland Council as part of their wider Smithton and Culloden Flood Alleviation scheme.
A council spokeswoman said: “We have asked the company who installed it to assess the damage as soon as they can. We ask anyone with any information to contact the police.”
Anyone who wants to help out with funds can also contact Mrs Robertson on lenny.robertson@hotmail.com.
