THOUSANDS of pounds worth of damage was caused by two fires started deliberately in Blackburn last night.

A town centre shoe shop was destroyed and several surrounding properties badly damaged after a blaze in the early hours.

And several families were forced to flee their homes after vandals broke into an empty house and started a fire which spread to three neighbouring properties.

But police and the fire brigade are not linking the two incidents, which took place at the same time and had the emergency services at full stretch.

National Shoes in Town Hall Street was destroyed in a fire which began shortly after 1am. Firefighters spent more than three hours trying to bring the blaze under control and stopping it spread to surrounding buildings.

The New Empress Ballroom which is on the floor above was badly damaged and shops on either side were also affected.

Ross Turton, the son of the shop owner Robert Turton, learned about the fire when he arrived to open up for business today.

He said: "This is the first I knew about the fire and the shop looks totally gutted inside.

"My grandfather opened the shop in 1938 and we have run it ever since then, I just don't know what we are going to do. We are just going to have to take stock of the situation, I am just having problems coming to terms with what has happened at the moment." Peter Davies, the manager of the ballroom, said: "It doesn't look like there has been any structural damage to the building but everything is covered in a thick black smoke. We are talking to the groups who use the building and still trying to work out whether we can open for business or not.

"We have had a few problems with vandals in the past but nothing on this scale."

Fire crews from Accrington were called in to deal with the blaze because Blackburn firefighters were busy tackling the other incident.

Leading firefighter Dave Leaming said: "The shoe shop is gutted and we did our best to stop the fire spreading to the neighbouring shops. It seems someone forced open the front door of the shop and we are investigating the cause of the blaze."

Shortly after midnight vandals forced their way into an unoccupied terraced house in Moseley Street, near Blackburn Infirmary, and started a fire.

The flames spread to three neighbouring properties and residents had to be evacuated. A large section of roof was destroyed and all three properties were also badly smoke damaged.

Three fire crews from Blackburn spent almost four hours battling to bring the blaze under control.

Police will be investigating both incidents.

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