AN arson attack on a block of flats saw firefighters rush to the scene in the early hours.

Firefighters responded fire inside a flat in Church Street, Farnworth, at 12.50am on Thursday morning.

The fire was deliberate and the flat had been ransacked, according to the crew from Farnworth Fire Station.

The fire spread from the bed and bookcase, but nobody was inside the flat.

Firefighters were tackling the blaze for more than two hours and police arrived at the scene to start investigations.

A spokesman for Farnworth fire crew said: "It was an arson attack. Inside the flat there was multiple sites of fire.

"It was a bed and bookcase on fire. We had crews to search the flat, but there was nobody inside.

"We were there until around 3am in the morning."