Firefighters had to rescue hundreds of fish after washing-up liquid was poured into a town pond

While praising the swift action of Brightlingsea fire brigade, mayor Jo Ruffell blamed a small minority of youngsters for the vandalism at the town's centrepiece pond and fountain.

More than 150 fish, including carp and goldfish valued at about £800 - some of which had been gifts to the town - were saved after the retained firefighters responded to the mayor's 999 call at about 9pm on Friday.

She said: "I rang the fire brigade to see if there was anything they could do. They responded within ten minutes and spent more than an hour pumping out the pond. All the fish were saved."

She added: "It is rather upsetting that someone should want to do something like this. It is obviously a small minority and we do have relatively few incidents of vandalism in the town."

Published Monday, March 18, 2002