YOUTHS broke into a former morgue last night and set it on fire.
The derelict building, which was part of the old Burnley Victoria Hospital on Salus Street, went up in flame at around 9pm.
Salus Street, Burnley
Black smoke and flames were coming from the skylights and part of the roof was badly damaged.
The site belongs to Victoria House nursing home, but is around 30m away and fire crews managed to contain the blaze to the two-storey building.
Watch manager Tom Spencer said: “It is under investigation as deliberate.
"Youths were seen in the area for quite some time in the days before.
“The ground floor is well boarded up, but there’s the possibility they either got in through the skylight and set some old furniture on fire, or dropped something through.
“The structure of the building is OK, but the fire had spread into the roof and a third of the slates had to be removed.”
The heat of the fire damaged overhead telephone cables leaving the nursing home without a landline.
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