POLICE are investigating two fires which severally damaged one property and gutted another.

Both blazes are being treated as arson - with officers appealling for any information which may help them catch the culprits.

Burning material was pushed through the letterbox of the Age Concern office in Market Street, Carnforth, in the early hours of Monday, causing massive smoke damage.

"Two passers-by noticed smoke coming from the building and called the fire brigade at 7.55am, but the fire brigade say it could have been smouldering for up to eight hours," says John Standing, outreach officer at the charity.

"I suspect we were targeted because we are situated down an alley in a quiet part of Carnforth. If it has been done deliberately, it is very easy to do but the consequences are massive.

"We could have done a lot with the money that was wasted on the fire brigade and police having to attend."

But he adds that staff are now using the property as normal.

o Fire gutted the third floor of a boarded-up semi in Clarendon Road, Morecambe, on Monday afternoon.

Three fire engines and an incident support unit attended the blaze which was started on the third floor. The cause is still being investigated.

Anybody with information is asked to contact police at Morecambe or Carnforth.