Jan Johnston was tucked up in the van she calls home when she was rocked by the explosion. \u201cI heard this massive boom,\u201d she said. \u201cI came out and there was thick, black, billowing smoke. It was like a bomb had gone off.\u201d<\/p>\n
It turned out not to be a bomb, but a suspected arson attack on one of the many caravans, motorhomes and converted vehicles tucked away in side roads and industrial estates around the town of Glastonbury in Somerset.<\/p>\n
The fire spread and three caravans a few metres from Johnston\u2019s vehicle suffered damaged. The charred remains of clothes, books and tin cans can still be seen among the wreckage.<\/p>\n
For decades, people like Johnston, 71, have parked up in Glastonbury, famed for its alternative, spiritual, peaceful ways, and lived \u2013 for the most part \u2013 harmoniously, with \u201cbricks and mortar\u201d townsfolk.<\/p>\n
Jan Johnston: \u2018I\u2019m a bit of a pilgrim and it\u2019s always been a mellow kind of place but I\u2019m not staying any more.\u2019 Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
But the mood has changed, apparently because of a combination of a sharp increase in the numbers living at the roadside and a general decline in people\u2019s willingness to rub along together. The motive for the attack is not known but it has made people uneasy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been coming here for 47 years,\u201d said Johnston, a teacher. \u201cI\u2019m a bit of a pilgrim and it\u2019s always been a mellow kind of place but I\u2019m not staying any more. I\u2019m packing up. I\u2019ve got family on the Isle of Wight and I\u2019m heading there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attack happened on Saturday night. Fire crews from Glastonbury, Wells and Street attended. Luckily, nobody was in the caravans that were gutted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like a hate crime,\u201d said John, 62, who lives in another caravan nearby. \u201cIf the wind had been blowing the other way, more vans could have gone up and people could have been killed. Horrendous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some people choose to live in caravans or vehicles but John said he was not one of them. \u201cI was working in Europe as a carer. I had to come back when Brexit happened and haven\u2019t been able to find a permanent place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hazel with her dog, Okami: \u2018I\u2019d like a flat or house, even a room but they just aren\u2019t available.\u2019 Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Hazel, who also lives in a nearby caravan, said she would prefer to live in a conventional home. \u201cI have had trauma in my life and feel very vulnerable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like a flat or house, even a room but they just aren\u2019t available.\u201d She lives with her dog, Okami, a cross between a Czechoslovakian wolfdog and an akita inu. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t feel safe without Okami,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Not all \u201cbricks and mortar\u201d residents were sympathetic when news of the fire broke. Some suggested the blaze was probably caused by a barbecue lit by the dwellers. Many others said they should not have been there in the first place.<\/p>\n
One person living in a house near the site of the fire, who asked not to be named, said they were glad nobody was hurt. \u201cBut if it makes them move away, then so be it. Some are nice and friendly, work and pay their taxes. But too many of them are trouble-causers and make the place look a mess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avon and Somerset police said two people \u2013 a man in his 40s, and a woman in her 20s \u2013 were arrested on suspicion of arson, arson with intent to endanger life and assault of an emergency worker. They have been released on conditional police bail while the investigation continues.<\/p>\n
It is a pressing political topic in the town. Earlier this year, the Liberal Democrat MP for Glastonbury and Somerton, Sarah Dyke, has raised it in the House of Commons, making the point that the availability of affordable housing in Somerset had plummeted and rents had risen, forcing people into vans and vehicles.<\/p>\n
A Glastonbury Conservative councillor, Susannah Hart, called for Somerset council to declare a \u201cstate of emergency\u201d. The numbers tend to rise in the summer. When the vans and vehicles were counted in February, there were 131. By the end of May \u2013 the latest figures \u2013 there were 157.<\/p>\n
There is money available that could help ease the problem. Glastonbury has secured \u00a323.6m of funding for a range of regeneration projects, including a project to help roadside dwellers. Work began to create regulated site in the area of the town where the fire happened but this was halted when it flooded.<\/p>\n
A second site has been earmarked and the process to secure planning permission is under way but it will have fewer than 20 spots. Councillor Liz Leyshon, the deputy leader of Somerset council, who was born in Glastonbury, said the town had been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a massive pull and a huge attraction to a tiny town.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the caravans that people are living in and around Glastonbury. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
She said there tended to be \u201cwaves\u201d of \u201cnon-bricks and mortar dwellers\u201d. There was a spike during Covid and another this year after Bristol city council moved dwellers on.<\/p>\n