FIREFIGHTERS have blasted vandals who put a woman's life at risk after starting two fires on a Blackburn estate.

The arsonists set fire to a wheelie bin and left it outside the front door of the pensioner's home in the early hours.

The resident of the flat in Greenhurst Close who is in her 70s, was woken by her smoke alarm and managed to get out of the flat by the time the fire brigade arrived.

Minutes after dealing with the blaze, the firefighters were called to a second suspicious blaze at a bin compound in nearby Carlinghurst Close.

A spokesman for Blackburn fire station said: "If the lady had not had a smoke alarm fitted then there could have been tragic consequences."

Firefighters believe the fires were started deliberately and the police are investigating both incidents.

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