Rhyl fire by old adventure playground 'thought to be deliberate’

A building on Rhydwen Close, adjacent to the former site of Rhyl Adventure Playground, caught fire at about 2am yesterday, with multiple crews called to the incident.

The playground closed shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Rhyl fire a ‘massive setback’ in restoring adventure playground to town

A North Wales Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We were called to a fire at 2.11am on Rhydwen Close, Rhyl.

“The fire involved an unused building, and caused 90 per cent fire damage.

“The fire was thought to have been started deliberately.”

The fire came as a “massive setback” to the Venny Association, a community group which formed last year and had been working with Denbighshire County Council to try and restore the playground.

Fire crews at the scene yesterday (Image: Dave Thomas)

Dave Thomas, chair of the group, said: "We wanted to get the adventure playground, and the purpose-built building (which caught fire) adjacent to it, both back up and running.

"It's been a slow-turning ship, but the wheels were in motion. We wanted to bring it back to the community.

"This is bad timing - it’s a massive setback, but hopefully, the council will continue to work with us."

The site had been the target of fires previously – in 2019, garden waste was set alight at the park.

Damage which the fire caused to the building (Image: Submitted)

And in January 2022, a fire at the then-closed playground, “involving around four square metres of wood and general rubbish”, was “thought to be deliberate.”

Another resident told the Journal yesterday morning: "This is a massive setback… the children in our area need somewhere to go and things to do.

"It was a much-loved and well-used playground for such a long time and it would benefit the children of Rhyl so much if it could be reinstated, as there isn’t much for children to do or places to go in our area."