AN arson attack destroyed a man’s ‘precious’ motorbikes and ‘nearly set fire to an entire street’.

Fire ripped through a lean-to attached to the back of a terraced home in Maple Street, Clayton-le-Moors, on Saturday night after an accelerant was poured in, police said.

The fire wrecked three motorbikes, damaged the house and a neighbouring property, but firefighters from Accrington and Blackburn stopped it spreading any further.

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Detective Inspector Nikki Bithell, from Lancashire Police’s eastern division CID, said it was lucky nobody was killed, and said officers were treating the attack ‘very seriously’.

She added: “All the back of the terraced house and the wall has gone up in flames.

“The man who lives there is a motorbike enthusiast. The bikes were very precious to him and it’s a big loss.

“Most significantly, the ferocity of the fire could have seen the whole street alight. The consequences could have been fatal. There was petrol and other highly flammable objects within this shed and had the occupant not been woken up by a loud bang, we could have been dealing with a number of fatalities.”

The fire took hold at around 11.30pm and Rob Birtwistle, watch manager at Blackburn fire station, said it started to spread.

He said: “We are treating it as suspicious. A joint investigation with the police is ongoing.”

A window at the property was damaged, and the kitchen suffered some smoke damage.

A kitchen window at a neighbouring property was also destroyed.

Nobody was hurt, Mr Birtwistle added.

The main crew from Hyndburn fire station was unable to attend because they were called out to an automatic fire alarm at the same time, a fire service spokesman said.

Det Insp Bithell added: “If there were any witnesses in that area at that time, who saw anything suspicious, I would ask them to call us on 101, using log number LC-20141026-0043.”

Information can be reported anonymously by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.