Bonfire night horror as youths set tower block alight with fireworks then shoot rockets at 999 crews battling inferno: Boy, 14, arrested ‘for trying to kill’

A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of arson after police officers and firefighters busy battling the flames were attacked by yobs. 

Bonfire Night descended into chaos in Liverpool as Merseyside fire crews were hurled with fireworks as they attended a tower block blaze. 

Both police and fire service crews were targeted by thugs as they attended the fire on a balcony in a high rise block of flats in Huyton, a town about six miles east of Liverpool. 

Merseyside Police said in a statement that they arrested a 14-year-old boy on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after emergency services were called to Knowsley Heights on Primrose Drive in Huyton. 

Firefighters extinguished the fire on the third floor block of flats, but fireworks were also fired towards police officers and firefighters attending the scene, resulting in a female police officer suffering a minor injury to the leg. 

The teenager remains in custody while enquiries are going, police confirmed. 

Chief Inspector Kevin Chatterton said: ‘We will not tolerate this type of disgraceful behaviour, particularly when it involves emergency services staff being targeted in such a way. 

‘It is only by sheer good fortune that nobody was seriously injured. 

‘Officers were quickly at the scene and spoke to a number of youths and parents to advise them about their behaviour. 

‘One teenage male was arrested and will be questioned.’ 

Shocking video footage on social media shows police being attacked by youths and firefighters being hit with fireworks as they struggled to battle the tower block’s flames. 

Merseyside Police for South Liverpool announced at 7.41pm that they had introduced a Section 60 order for the entire area of Garston Under the Bridge this evening. The order gives officers additional powers to search people suspected of involvement in criminality and disorder. 

Mersey Fire released a statement at 8.30pm saying: ‘While attending a fire in Huyton, firefighters were targeted and attacked with fireworks. 

‘These attacks are unacceptable. Our firefighters are out to protect our communities – not to be attacked. 

‘All fire engines are fitted with CCTV and is sent to Merseyside Police.’ 

The chaos came as the rest of Britain flocked to displays across the country for  Bonfire Night – as huge effigies Keir Starmer and Donald Trump burned during the world famous celebrations in Lewes, East Sussex.

Tonight colourful fireworks and bonfires are visible in many places as the nation commemorates the failed Gunpowder Plot of November 5 1605 – when Guy Fawkes and his conspirators tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I. 

In Lewes, Sussex, torch bearers in historic garb paraded through the town centre in one of the UK’s largest and most famous Bonfire Night celebrations, as police warned of road closures and safety concerns. 

A huge effigy of Donald Trump was set to burn in the Sussex town, created by the Southover Bonfire Society and featuring the US President as Captain America standing on top of a decapitated Statue of Liberty. 

In Glasgow and Edinburgh, Firework Control Zones (FCZs) were put in place – three in Glasgow and nine across Edinburgh. 

FCZs in Scotland are defined geographical areas designated by local authorities where it is a criminal offence for a member of the public to set off fireworks, including on private property. 

Meanwhile, in Kent, a huge effigy of Keir Starmer stands in a field waiting to be lit, featuring a badge saying ‘Starmer the Farmer Harmer’ and a digital ID in his pocket. 

The monstrous Starmer effigy, designed by artist Andrea Deans, will be burned at the Edenbridge Bonfire Society’s annual bonfire night celebrations on November 8.

Edenbridge has been poking fun at celebrities for more than 20 years, with previous targets including Boris Johnson and Donald Trump. 

Earlier this year Labour’s inheritance tax raid on farmers sparked protests throughout the UK as the party was warned it would spell the end of farm shops. 

Edenbridge Bonfire Society has gained a reputation for using their effigy’s to poke fun at celebrities, as well as politicians and their decision-making since 1994. 

Among their previous targets include, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump as well as London Mayor Sadiq Khan and his ULEZ policy. 

Last year the group previously took aim at Ticketmaster amid outrage over the sites dynamic pricing as fans scrambled to buy Oasis tickets last year. 

This year however, the creators wanted to take the tradition back to its more political roots. 

Bill Cummings, chairman of the Bonfire Society, said: ‘This decision is a great opportunity to remind everyone why we have Bonfire Night in the first place, a message that has perhaps been forgotten over more recent years.’ 

The Prime Minister’s effigy is holding a clipboard with ‘Suck up to Trump’ written in big letters and policies such as the new ‘one in, one out’ agreement with France crossed out. 

Sir Keir also has his own links to the area having been raised in nearby Oxted and is said to have been part of one of the local football teams in Edenbridge. 

Andrea Deans, one of the creators of this year’s effigy, said: ‘We feel the public have chosen well this year when you look at how the current government is treating its citizens. 

‘There were so many elements we could include on the effigy, and it was interesting working out how these could be represented visually.’ 

Other contenders for the 2025 event included Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, Andrew Tate, Baroness Michelle Mone and MP Angela Rayner. 

‘Many of my friends are from the farming community and I know they will be delighted with who we have chosen this year,’ said Reece Hook, another effigy creator. 

Edenbridge Bonfire Society has been celebrating Bonfire Night for nearly a century but began the tradition of burning giant effigies in the mid-1990s. 

Sir Winston Churchill is one of several famous figures to have opened the Kent town’s Bonfire Night celebrations. 

This year more than 500 people are expected to take part in the torchlit parade through Edenbridge High Street. 

From 1850, Bonfire Night developed into the more formalised processions seen today, commemorating the seventeen Protestant martyrs. 

Bonfire Societies across the UK usually parade through their towns and villages, with the night ending with the burning of effigies. 

The Lewes bonfire night is the biggest celebration across the UK, organised by six local bonfire societies, which each have their own fireworks, fire sites, costumes and processions. The first recorded event was in 1795. 

Each year effigies, often reflective of the political climate, are burnt on the fields outside the town. 

Last year, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had the dubious honour of having an effigy resembling him, alongside one of a diver in polluted seawater. 

Before then, it was the turn of then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Jeremy Hunt driving a train with HS2 scrawled on the sign. 

In previous years, effigies have included former Prime Minister’s Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Tony Blair, as well as the under-fire pandemic health secretary Matt Hancock and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The Lewes parade commemorates Guy Fawkes and his failed gunpowder plot, as well as the 17 Protestant martyrs who were burnt alive in the 1550s in the centre of Lewes, represented by 17 burning crosses. 

It also marks a two-year martyrdom known as the Marian Persecutions. 

Bloody Mary infamously ordered the burning of 288 Protestants and 17 were killed in Lewes between 1555 and 1557.