Inferno threat to lives as arsonists sever gas pipe

Vandals started a fire then severed a supply pipe to the house's gas meter - turning the empty terraced property into an inferno.

Their faces shielded by breathing apparatus masks, firefighters sent to put out the blaze could not smell the leaking gas and were unaware of the danger they were in.

Fire Station Officer Lol McIlroy said the blaze, in Clarendon Road, Middlesbrough, was "a threat to neighbours' houses" and had it happened just a few hours later could have injured passers-by as the house window exploded into the street.

He said: "What we were met with on arrival was like a blow torch effect

"My own opinion is thatwhoever set the fire was trying to maximise the damage.

"We had people in breathing apparatus. They can't smell gas.

"Once we have extinguished the fire and it is dark and smoky, that is the state when it becomes dangerous,'' Mr McIlroy said.

"When you extinguish a fire there are always areas where you can get re-ignition.

"It was only at the point where we came in without breathing apparatus, to inspect the property, that we could smell gas straight away."

Because of the scale and severity of the fire, which gutted the entire ground floor, crews were not able to distinguish one particular area of the fire from another.

But the blaze was most intense near the front window of the house where the meter was situated.

The gas was leaking at full flow, fuelling the blaze.

Vagrants may initially have broken into the empty house to escape recent sub zero temperatures.

Mr McIlroy said: "We are investigating the cause of the fire.

"We are treating it as suspicious."

Cleveland's arson investigation team is investigating the blaze, which tied down fire fighters for an hour, it was later revealed.

Sergeant Peter Blake of Cleveland police said: "It is a dangerous and deplorable act to do such a thing which obviously puts other people's property and perhaps wellbeing, in danger.