FIREFIGHTERS battled for almost four hours to put out a pub blaze - then returned three hours later to extinguish a second fire.

Both fires, at The Poverina, in Normanby, near Middlesbrough, are being treated as suspicious.

About 30 firefighters tackled the first blaze after the eight-and-a-half months pregnant pub landlady and her partner raised the alarm.

But they struggled to get the flames under control because of the building's structure.

Grangetown Acting Station Officer Dave McGill said: "The fire itself wasn't a particularly large fire, but there was a sandwich floor and the fire had got into the sandwich. It was very difficult for us to access that and put the fire out."

The blaze, which started in an external boiler room, was eventually put out just before 5am, but the pub was badly damaged.

At 7.50am, the same watch was called out again when a passer-by noticed smoke billowing out of a window.

"The property had not been properly secured because it was impossible to do so in the early hours of the morning," said Mr McGill.

"This time, the fire was started in the first-floor bar lounge with a piece of rolled-up carpet and debris which had been piled on. We managed to put it out quite quickly.

"The landlady had gone to her mother's but I had to physically wake up her partner and tell him there was another fire."

He added that police were investigating the blazes, but both appeared to be arson.