Arson at four terrace houses

Firemen damp down the remains of the four homes

A row of terrace houses awaiting demolition was deliberately set alight last night, leaving firefighters facing a gruelling nine-hour task to extinguish the flames.

Crews from Oldham and Chadderton, and an aerial appliance from Oldham, were called to Lynn Street, Werneth, at about 10.50, to find four terrace houses alight.

The roofs of two of the properties collapsed leaving crews with no option but to fight the fire from the outside.

All of the houses have been severely damaged.

The teams used jets and hydraulic platforms to extinguish the fire, and were still hard at work nine hours after the alarm was raised.

Watch manager Jon Nolan, from Oldham Fire Station, said: “One terraced house was well alight and the fire had gone into the roof — it looked like it had been going for some time.

“Shortly after, the roof collapsed and the fire spread into another houseand then into a further two properties.”