A WOMAN today said she was lucky to be alive after arsonists started a fire which took part of the roof off her home and destroyed the house next door.

And Jean Feilden has thanked neighbours Mick and Paula Ashe for sounding the alarm which saved her and her dog Rocky.

Mrs Fielden was asleep at her home in Morley Street, Burnley, when flames raged through the house next door leaving it a roofless empty shell. The fire then spread into her home and badly damaged the roof.

She was completely blinded by the thick, black smoke and had to feel her way downstairs.

She said: "I was fast asleep in bed after a good drink last night. The next thing I knew was that there was banging on the door and Rocky was barking. I opened my eyes and all I saw was black smoke.

"I had to hold both hands on the bannister to feel my way downstairs. They were just going to sledgehammer the door in when I let them in.''

Jean added: "If it hadn't been for my neighbours, Mick and Paula, from lower down the street, I would not be here now. They raised the alarm.'' She said the house next door had been empty for three weeks.

"Since then it has been trashed and now someone has torched it while I was in bed. Most of my roof has gone and I am not insured. I don't know what I shall do now." Paula said: "The first thing we heard was the sound of the windows exploding. Mick went out and saw the house well alight.

"We knew Jean was in the house and banged on the door to wake her. Then the emergency services arrived."

The cause of the blaze was today being probed by firefighters and police.

Station Officer David Bent said the blaze was being treated as arson.

He said: "When we arrived the house was on fire from top to bottom, the ground floor, first floor and roof were in flames.

"It spread to the houses on either side and then to the attic of the house next door but one."

Firefighters put sheets over the roof of Jean's home and gave her advice about contacting the housing department.

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