TWO teenagers have been arrested after a deliberate house fire.

The fire took place in a property in Goldings Crescent, Vange, on Wednesday at 11.06pm.

Emergency services rushed to the scene to get people out of their properties and to safety.

A mother-of-one living next door to the property said: “I don’t want to say much at the moment.

“The first thing that I knew about was the police banging on my door shouting to get me out of my house.”

A grandmother-of-two, of Goldings Crescent, said she saw smoke and people standing in the road.

She added: “The sirens from the fire engines woke me in the night.

“I had a look outside and saw lots of black smoke coming from the top windows of the property.

“I find it all quite shocking to be honest and I really hope that the homeowners are alright.”

Doug Sylvester, Assistant Divisional Officer at the Essex FIre and Rescue Service said: “The building was heavily smoked logged when the firefighters arrived.

“The building has suffered mostly smoke damage and around 20 per cent damage from the fire.

“The swift actions from our crews prevented the fire spreading to the adjacent property.”

A spokesman from Swan Housing said: “Swan’s Housing teams are supporting those affected by this serious incident and are working closely with the emergency services”. A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Officers and the fire service attended.

“Two 16-year-old boys from Pitsea were arrested on suspicion of arson and are currently in custody awaiting questioning.”