FIREFIGHTERS are risking their lives in a potentially deadly game of Russian Roulette tackling blazes started by arsonists on a derelict Little Hulton estate.

The young thugs are leaving behind a trail of booby traps by setting fire to "live" electricity meters.

Firemen, who have also been ambushed by stone throwing youths, then have to embark on a deadly guessing game to establish which are live -- a potential death trap -- and which are not.

And today a fire officer warned the actions of the young thugs on the Amblecote estate could cost lives.

He revealed that the fire brigade does not have an accurate list of which homes have had their electricity supply disconnected.

Only this weekend a firefighter was nearly electrocuted after turning his water hose on to a blazing live meter he wrongly believed had been cut off. Luckily he managed to jump aside after seeing a shower of sparks. Two fire crews were then forced to wait more than two hours for the supply to be disconnected before they could tackle the blaze.

The 999 men fear the lethal combination of water and electricity are putting them in danger and they are also warning that the arsonists themselves are dicing with death. One Farnworth fire officer believes the only answer is for Salford Council to cut off the electricity supply to empty properties due to be bulldozed in the coming months.

He said: "The estate is like Beirut at the moment and we are being called out two or three times a week because the kids are targeting the boxes in the porches of empty properties.

"They like to see the flash and the bangs and know we cannot put the fire out until we have isolated the supply.

"But it's a dangerous game because nobody knows for certain which properties are connected and which have been isolated.

"Something needs to be done before someone is injured or killed." A blue cross is painted on properties which have been cut off but firefighters say this is difficult to spot in the dark and they do not trust youngsters not to spray their own cross.

Leading Farnworth fireman Mike Dargon confirmed that fire crews are regularly being called to the derelict Amblecote estate to deal with burning meter boxes.

On occasions, they have also been stoned by gangs of youths.

The fire chief said: "As I understand it, they cannot pull the plug on the whole estate because some of the houses are still inhabited."

Salford Council has earmarked the estate of 500 houses for demolition and in recent months vandalism has pushed it up the priority list. A council spokesman said: "We use shutters on all empty properties to protect them from vandals.

"But this kind of deliberate action is extremely dangerous and places lives at risk."