FIREFIGHTERS from Farnworth had to travel to Tyldesley to help a family whose house had caught fire -- because officers from a nearby station had been called out to a factory blaze started by vandals.

Leading firefighter at Farnworth, Paul Rushby, says that the family of four could easily have died by the time they arrived at the scene, after the first floor bedroom caught fire early last Thursday morning.

But the two adults and two young children were awoken by a smoke alarm and managed to evacuate the Devon Road house before firefighters arrived.

A team from Atherton station would normally have answered the emergency -- but they had been called to a derelict factory in Gin Pit after it had been set alight.

They have tackled numerous fires at the former William Hares building on Ley Road over the last month, all of which have been started by vandals.

Firefighter Rushby, said: "This was a very severe fire. The safety of the family had been compromised because the machine covering their area had been called to one of a series of arson attacks on this derelict property.

"Over the last two or three weeks, vandals have repeatedly set fire to this factory, and it is a complete drain on manpower and equipment.

"If the circumstances of this fire had been different, this family could easily have died as their safety was compromised.

"It is just lucky that they had a smoke alarm which alerted them to the fire. The entire contents of the bedroom were completely destroyed. It could have been much worse."

The bedroom of the house was destroyed in the fire and the rest of the property very badly smoke-logged.

A 25 year-old man was taken to hospital after the house fire, suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.