VANDALS risked their lives and put others in danger by puncturing a drum of pure alcohol and setting it on fire.

The incident sparked off a major alert at Brown and Forth Ltd, chemical merchants, Smallshaw industrial estate, Phoenix Way, Burnley.

General manager Geoff Higson warned that had the fire spread to the factory containing 6-800 drums of highly flammable chemicals houses over a wide area would have had to be evacuated.

He said: "They would go up 100 feet like sky rockets."

Mr Higson said children, some as young as eight or nine, were climbing over razor wire on the 10 feet high compound fence to get in and then causing damage, turning over containers or starting fires.

He said: "They don't know what they are doing. If this goes on it is only a matter of time before someone is killed."

He added: "I have thought of sending letters to every house in the area warning of the dangers but would probably be wasting my time. There are notices up warning that CCTV cameras are in operating and that the site is patrolled by guard dogs but they take no notice."

Firefighters at the Accrington Road compound they were unsure what type of chemical was contained in the blazing 45 gallon plastic drum.

Other drums in the compound were known to contain hazardous materials.

Station Officer Duncan Emmett said: "We had two pumps there along with the incident support unit and the environmental protection unit.

"We had to treat it as a worst case scenario as we thought the drum might contain a toxic substance. It turned out that the plastic drum contained 200 litres of alcohol."

SO Emmett said someone had got into the compound and punctured the drum before setting it alight. He added: "It is obviously a very dangerous thing to do.

"There have been problems there before and it seems some people are determined to get in and do something." The fire was contained by enclosing it in a larger drum and securing it so it was not left exposed.

Inspector Richard Blackburn, geographical inspector for Burnley West, said police had been advised there was no need to attend yesterday's incident which was reported as a spillage rather than arson.

He added: "We will be happy to sit down and discuss with the company general manager any problems they may have with regard to security and to look at ways forward."