ELDERLY residents fled in their nightclothes after an arson attack in Great Lever. Firefighters evacuated seven of the pensioners, aged between 71 and 91, and another two managed to escape on their own. Yobs are believed to have set fire to a wheelie bin at the back of the warden-controlled flats on Lever Edge Lane just before 11pm last night and pushed it against the back of the building.

Flames spread up the timber cladding into the roof space above the flat of 71-year-old Mary Clark who was asleep in bed.

Mary, who was forced to flee in her nightclothes, said today: "A man came up from downstairs and told me.

"It's a good job he did or I would have been a goner."

Firefighters evacuated the other pensioners from the affected block of the two storey building. Luckily no-one was injured. The pensioners waited outside, wrapped in blankets, while social services arranged emergency accommodation with friends and relatives.

A senior fire officer said: "This was potentially a very dangerous situation and it was a good job the alarm was raised very quickly."

Warden Valerie Wildman said: "The kids plague them all the time but it is a lot worse once the fireworks start.

"Maybe now they will realise just how serious things can get."

The roof of one of the flats was destroyed and the rest smoke damaged.

But a council spokesman said today he was optimistic most of the tenants would be able to move back in today.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.