A man has been arrested on suspicion of arson after five wheelie bins were set alight within minutes of each other.

They are thought to have been torched across Rochester and Strood in the early hours of Monday - exactly a week after three cars were burnt out in the same area.

Kent Police are now investigating how the fires started and the possibility both spates of blazes might be linked.

A spokesman said a 41-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson and is currently in police custody.

The first wheelie bin fire was found at about 2.15am outside the Corn Exchange in Northgate, Rochester.

Firefighters from Strood station put out the flames, but as they were packing up their equipment they spotted another plastic bin on fire just along the road in Rochester High Street.

After putting out the second bin fire, firefighters were called to Commercial Road, in Strood, where they found a third alight at the back of The Players Club pool hall.

As they were putting out the flames, another bigger wheelie bin was set alight at the McDonald's drive-through just along the road.

A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "We called Medway firefighters to help us with the fire at McDonald's as it was quite a big fire.

"As we had extinguished that fire, we saw other bins had been set alight at the back of Domino's Pizza, in Strood High Street. All in all we were out for more than an hour."

In the early hours of last Monday morning, April 11, three cars were torched within hours of each other.

Firefighters from Strood and Medway stations were called out four times to the car blazes and a bin fire.

A crew from Strood found a Peugeot 306 on fire at about 1am in Church Street, Rochester. Firefighters took about an hour to put out the blaze.

Shortly afterwards a crew from Medway station were called to the Esplanade in Rochester, where a Vauxhall Corsa was on fire. They spent about 20 minutes on the scene.

Then at about 3am Strood firefighters were called after a Citroen Berlingo was torched in an alley in Cuxton Road in the town. All three cars were destroyed.

The Strood crew were then called out again at about 5am to put out a bin on fire at the top of Shorts Way, close to the junction with Borstal Street, Rochester.