FAMILIES had to be evacuated from their home because firefighters feared an arson attack would cause a gas explosion.

Vandals set light to a pile of fly-tipped furniture, toys and rubbish in the back garden of a derelict house in Beechcroft Avenue, Breightmet.

The fire spread towards the house, destroying the guttering and setting fire to a fence separating the property from a neighbouring home.

Neighbour Samantha Smyth (corr), aged 28, was shopping when her 28-year-old partner Carl Lever called to say the fire brigade were warning them to keep away from the house.

The mum-of-five said: "He said there was a gas leak and I had to take the kids over to my mum's house across the road.

"They'd made a hole in the back fence to get in. It's not what you expect to come home to on a Sunday afternoon."

Firefighters from Bolton North station were called to the house at about 1.50pm yesterday. They evacuated the homes next door for about 90 minutes, while other neighbours watched from their back windows.

Tina Thomas, aged 49, said: "All you could see was thick black smoke and there were flames everywhere.

"The whole garden was alight. I was worried about the neighbours."

Her partner William Gallagher, aged 37, said: "It's frightening when you've got children. That garden is a mess and it should have been cleaned up."