A TERRIFIED couple were trapped on the ninth floor of a Bolton tower block after a suspected arson attack turned the hallway outside their flat into an inferno.

The pair, who do not have a phone or intercom, screamed for help from a window 100ft up because they were unable to escape through the blaze in the hallway.

Eventually their screams were heard by a householder below who called the fire brigade to the flats at Fernstead at Deane. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus carried Tina Sutcliffe, 28, who is deaf and partly dumb and her boyfriend, Patrick Christian, 35, from the building.

They led another resident from a neighbouring flat to safety.

A leading fireman told the BEN: "When we arrived I looked up and saw faces at the window with smoke billowing out around them.

"They were about 100ft up and we do not have ladders that big. When we got to the landing there were two chairs blocking the doorway to the access lobby. One was well ablaze and the lobby was full of thick, black, smoke.

"We found the couple collapsed on the floor and carried them out. They were very lucky, it could easily have been so much worse." The shocked couple were treated for the effects of smoke but later discharged.

Mr Christian said a family moving into another flat had left the furniture in the hallway and he had repeatedly asked them and the council to move it.

"Tina came home last night and as she got out of the lift she noticed the chair was on fire.

"By the time I went out with a bucket of water the hall was black and we could not find the doorway. The light bulbs were exploding and you could not breathe. We locked ourselves in the flat and called for help from the window. "It was very frightening because there is no way you can get out. Tina was in a terrible state and she ran back into the hallway to try and find the fire exit. I could hear her screaming but could not find her. Eventually she came back in the flat and got some air at the window.

"It was more frightening for her because she uses sign language and no-one can explain things to her.

"I am really angry because I have been asking for the chairs and other rubbish to be moved for ages. The fire brigade are here every night because kids are starting fires in the bins, the chutes or any rubbish they can find."

Police want anyone who saw anything suspicious to contact them.

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