A 150-METRE exclusion zone had to be set up around a gas cylinder which could have "gone off like a bomb" after vandals deliberately left it on a rubbish fire.

Fire crews got to the acetylene cylinder, which had placed inside an old cooker and then thrown on a fire in Griffin Street, Blackburn, at 11am on Saturday.

They had originally been called out to what they thought was just a rubbish fire. But when they arrived they found the cylinder and children playing nearby.

They applied cooling jets to the pressurised bottle and used thermal imaging cameras to check heat levels inside the cylinder.

Even after the immediate danger was over, fire crews had to monitor the cylinder for several hours before it was safe to take away.

Sub-officer Tony Ashworth said: "There were children playing nearby.

"We can't stress enough the dangers involved with gas cylinders of any kind especially this kind.

"Acetylene is very, very dangerous because it is so volatile and unpredictable. "

The fire was on a piece of wasteland on the street surrounded by a secure fence.

After several hours, the fire crew buried the cylinder in water and secured the site. Police carried out regular patrols.