A suspected arson attack at a Weymouth boatyard which destroyed a yacht and damaged others nearby caused an estimated £170,000 worth of damage.

Firefighters were alerted to Ferrybridge Marine on Portland Beach Road to tackle the blaze which destroyed a Bayliner yacht and damaged six other boats including a motor cruiser and smaller vessels.

Dorset Police have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire which officers say is being treated as ‘suspicious.’ Part of the beach road was closed on Thursday evening for safety reasons while the fire was dealt with.

The boatyard was closed yesterday morning while police investigated the scene.

The owner of the boatyard, Ned Wiltshire, said he has CCTV footage that shows someone entering the yard, which he will be passing on to police.

He added: “Police are carrying out an investigation and there are insurance implications.

“It will take time for a full insurance assessment, but at the moment we believe the damage to be in the region of around £170,000. It’s not a good day.

“I am grateful to the emergency services and their quick reaction which stopped it becoming much more severe.”

Residents told of how they saw smoke rising from the boatyard and emergency services arriving at the scene.

A resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “We saw smoke after the emergency vehicles went screaming past after seven o’clock. There was a little bit of smoke going across the road. Nothing like this has happened here before.”

Another resident said: “All I saw was a lot of bright lights. I wondered what was going on. There was a lot of cars queued up and I could see all their headlights and flashing lights.”

Billy Winters, a diner which sits behind Ferrybridge Marine, wasn’t affected by the fire and put out a Facebook post reassuring customers.

The manager, Brahim Djeebet, said he was inundated with phone calls about the venue's safety.

He said: “I got a lot of phone calls. One of the boats went up in flames, but it was controlled and put out quite quickly.

“One of my team got hold of me, she lives on Portland and said there was a fire, so I got hold of the owner. I was panicking a bit because the fire started at the boatyard.

“My friends and family know I work here so they were quite worried.”

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue was alerted to the fire just after 7pm on Thursday.

A spokesman for DWFRS said crews from Weymouth were already out on a drill night when they became aware of the fire.

A further crew from Weymouth was then sent to the scene.

The spokesman said: "It was reported to us as a medium-sized boat in a rack.

"Crews extinguished the fire with hose reel jets and a compressed air foam system with the help of breathing apparatus."

A spokesman for Dorset Police said they received the call from DWFRS as there was black smoke going into the road that could have been a hazard to drivers.

A road closure was put in place from Ferrybridge to the Chesil Beach Centre until around 8pm.