FIREFIGHTERS have been given a police escort to jobs in the Medway Towns after yobs repeatedly hurled stones at crews battling blazes.

Groups of youths armed with bats threw stones at crews when they attended a series of calls to the Safeway car park off Princes Avenue, Chatham, over the weekend.

The situation has got so bad the fire brigade is now stretching the service to send two engines to calls instead of one just to provide reinforcements. They are also being accompanied by the police.

The trouble started on Saturday, just after 8pm, when a four-man crew visited the first of two deliberate fires in bins in the Safeway car park.

While firefighters put out the fire, the gang began throwing stones at them. Crews had to retreat from the scene.

A spokesman for Medway Fire Brigade said: "We are simply trying to go about our job. The youths were definitely on the rampage."

Fire crews are now providing back-up to each other, with more firefighters attending incidents than necessary. "It's manpower we could use elsewhere," the spokesman said. "We can't not attend in case they start setting houses alight, but if it keeps going on we might have to re-assess the situation."

The arson continued into the early hours of Sunday. There were three calls to the car park. Police are be investigating.