A MUM of two spoke of her terror today after arsonists tried to set fire to her house by pushing burning paper through the letter box.

Pam Wickington, 31, was in the living room of her house in Branch Road, Burnley, at about 9.45pm yesterday when the attack happened.

She managed to put out the blaze with the help of neighbour Peter Madden, 40, who was visiting, but said if she had been in bed at the time she could have died.

The front door is the only exit from the house and Pam said she would not have been able to escape if that had been blocked by fire. Fire crews and police were called to the blaze, which damaged the front door, and are now carrying out a joint investigation into the attack.

Pam said: "This is just the latest in a long line of harassment by these kids.

"They have been banging on the door and pushing things through the letter box, but this is the most serious.

"If I had been upstairs I could have died."

Pam's two children, Andrew, seven, and Courtney, two, were out of the house at the time of the incident.

Neighbour Peter Madden said: "You just don't know what these people are going to do next.

"You expect youngsters to mess around but not to do things like this."

Pam said the gang was a group of around six or seven children aged from 12 to 15.

Leading firefighter Ged Richmond said the incident was being investigated and that they had fitted a new smoke alarm in Mrs Wickington's house.

He added: "This could have had serious consequences.

"An incident like this is a threat to life because the intent was there to cause serious injury. We are looking at this very seriously indeed."

A spokesman for Burnley police said: "We were called to an incident in Branch Road after reports that children were trying to set fire to the door. We are carrying out further inquiries."