THE farm arsonist of Hoo Peninsula struck again in the early hours of Friday morning in what is believed to be the 13th attack in six weeks.

In the latest blaze, £2,000 damage was done at Nord Farm in Grain Road, Stoke.

As the fire spread at 2.30am farmer Brian Stone was in danger of losing the feed stocked for his animals.

He said: "The heat is melting the silage bales, so we will lose quite a bit of silage, which is what we feed the animals on - we have got to feed them on something."

Huge stacks of straw were also set on fire.

Mr Stone said: "How do we keep an eye on everything? It is over such a big area you can sit on one stack and they will set fire to another.

"The police are doing what they can but it is like looking for a needle in a hay stack. Nobody has seen anything."

Two fire crews from Strood battled the blaze for more than seven hours. Sub officer Trevor Delieu said: "We had a bit of a struggle to get water in there but we had to stop the fire from spreading to other stacks of 300 to 400 tons."

The list of recent fires reads:

August 2: Rye Street Farm, Rye Street, Cliffe - hay field

August 5: Rye Street Farm, Rye Street, Cliffe - hay field, trailer, hay making equipment.

August 9: Berry Court Farm, Cooling Street, Cliffe - hay field

August 16: Kings Farm, Lower Road, Shorne - baled straw

August 17: Buckland Road, Cliffe - hay field and baled straw

August 20: North Dane Way, Chatham

August 24: Binney Road, Allhallows - field of corn

August 27: Chapter Farm, Watling Street, Strood - barn and stable block

August 28: Lodge Hill Lane, Chattenden, Rochester - barn

August 31: Mill Farm, Ratcliffe Highway, Hoo - barn

September 2: Mote Farm, Mote Farm Lane, St Mary's Hoo - straw

September 6: Binney Road, Allhallows, Rochester - farm building.