A FIRE destroyed a derelict house and damaged the neighbouring property.

Firefighters were called to Coniston Avenue, Whitefield, at 9.30pm on Friday (April 2) after flames were spotted coming from the boarded-up house.

Children are being blamed for starting the blaze.

A spokesman for Whitefield Fire Service said: "Because the house was boarded up nobody knew there was a fire, so it had been burning for a while. The ground floor was gutted. The next house was slightly smoke damaged."