CHILDREN who started a fire in the basement of an empty shop in Burnley, put their lives at risk.

The youngsters could easily have been trapped in the underground rubbish-filled room with horrifying consequences, a fire chief has warned.

Children thought to be aged about 11 or 12 were seen running away from the scene of the fire in Oxford Road as fire crews were arriving at 6.20pm.

Four pumps from Burnley and Nelson attended and because of the difficulty of access down stairs, choked with broken televisions and other debris, it took 10 firefighters in breathing apparatus to deal with the incident.

Sub Officer Peter Frazer said: "There was lots of dense, black acrid smoke coming from the large quantity of rubbish.

"There was only one way in and out on stairs choc-a-bloc with rubbish. It would not have taken much to have got trapped in there with very serious consequences.''

Fire crews were at the scene for more than two hours.

The fire damaged a large quantity of rubbish and the basement ceiling. The rest of the three-storey building was damaged by smoke with slight smoke damage also being caused to an adjoining house.

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