A BLAZE at the vandalism plagued Knights Grange Sports Complex has caused 'horrific' damage to changing rooms.

Fire crews were called to the sports complex at 7.02pm on Sunday night after youths set fire to toilet rolls in a changing room. Firefighter Ronnie Moore said: "The smoke damage is horrific because the doors and windows were closed and it was left smouldering for hours."

Despite extensive damage to the changing rooms firefighter Moore believes the situation could have been much more serious.

He said: "The smoke logging was awful.

"This means it could have been a lot worse because smoke logging can lead to a backdraft scenario.

"Because the area was contained and closed off it rendered it to smoulder but if a window had cracked it could have turned into a furnace."

Vandalism has escalated at Knights Grange in recent weeks and councillors are hopeful police will catch the culprits.

Town and borough councillor Peter Gannon said: "We seem to have an arsonist running around Winsford at the moment. These people need to be caught whoever they are.

"I think it is just one or two individuals who are causing all the damage so I want to emphasise that it is not youths in general.

"There are a lot of good young people in Winsford and a few are spoiling things like Knights Grange for the rest.

"There was also damage caused to cricket equipment over the weekend as well so this has got to stop now."

Anyone with information should contact police on 01606 48000.