Suspicious fire in Linwood Cemetery

A fire in Linwood Cemetery in the early hours of Friday morning has been labelled suspicious by...
A fire in Linwood Cemetery in the early hours of Friday morning has been labelled suspicious by Fire and Emergency. Photo: Warren Buckland
A fire in a cemetery in Linwood has been labelled "suspicious."

Firefighters were called to Linwood Cemetery at 12:15am on Friday morning after receiving reports of grass and a hedge on fire.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand shift manager Lyn Crosson said the fire was extinguished within 20min but had been labelled suspicious by firefighters.

"They found an area of grass with scrub on fire that they deemed to be suspicious," she said.

Ms Crosson said the matter had been reported to the police.

Firefighters also attended another hedge fire on the corner of Drain and Lake Rd in Leeston at 12:20am.

Eighty metres of hedge was ablaze when a fire engine and a tanker from the Leeston Fire Station arrived. Two additional fire engines and two tankers were then deployed from the Southbridge and Dunsandel fire stations to help contain the fire.

Ms Crosson said the fire was extinguished just after 1am.

She said crews remained on the scene until 3am.