TWO dangerous arson attacks in Crewe this week have sparked fury from fire officers for undermining the effectiveness of the service.

Firefighters have tackled blazes at homes in Coronation Crescent and on West Street in the past few days - both of which were started deliberately.

Fire chiefs said there has been a huge increase in arson attacks in the town and warned if that continues it's only a matter of time before someone is killed.

The latest blaze took hold at a family home in West Street in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Three fire crews were deployed and firefighters battled through intense heat and smoke to search the premises with thermal imaging cameras after being wrongly told that a mother and son were asleep upstairs.

They found the terraced property empty but were unable to stop the blaze from gutting the building.

Officers are now awaiting the findings of a fire investigation and detectives are studying CCTV footage from a nearby shop in an attempt to find clues.

Detective John Ruggiero of Crewe CID said: "It appears that someone has broken into the property and set fire to the building. We are currently following up some good lines of enquiry."

Another attack happened at Coronation Crescent in Coppenhall on Thursday evening when a family were forced to jump from a first floor window following an arson attack.

It is believed a mattress and a wheelie bin was pushed up against the back door of the property and set on fire.

Luckily no one was hurt in either of the two incidents.

Crewe community safety officer Mick Cox said: "The increase in the town is very alarming, especially because the figures across the rest of Cheshire have dropped.

"The numbers always go up over school holidays when children start messing about with matches, but it seems to be particularly bad over this Easter break."

Cheshire Fire Service's arson liaison officer Paul Broadhurst said that some 38 property fires have been started deliberately in Crewe since the start of the year - almost double the figure for the same period last year.

He said: "While we are obviously not happy about the increase, it must be taken into context and it is in fact less than ten fires a month."

Anyone who can help with the investigations should contact Crewe CID on 01244 613333.