POLICE are hunting arsonists who set a potential timebomb.

Intruders smashed their way into a house on Teesside which they set alight after first cutting through a gas pipe.

The sounds of their activities were drowned by the noise of a 21st birthday party and barbecue at the terraced house next door, in Malling Walk, Middlesbrough.

Acting Detective Sergeant Billie Singh, of Cleveland Police, said: "We are investigating what is obviously a serious incident."

The blaze they started, after first ransacking every cupboard and drawer, was so fierce it broke through a ceiling and started several smaller fires on the first floor.

The thieves stole the central heating boiler, wrenching it free from surrounding gas pipes.

Firefighters went into the blaze, which destroyed most of the ground floor, wearing breathing apparatus, unaware of the leaking gas.

All the time, a crowd of onlookers increased in the street outside and firefighters were deployed to keep them well back from the house.

Station Officer Ron Carr said there could easily have been a gas explosion putting the lives of not only firefighters but neighbours and other people at risk.

l Firefighters administered oxygen to a man who was overcome by smoke when a midnight fry-up ended in near disaster. An unattended frying pan caught fire in a kitchen in Berwick Hills Avenue, Middlesbrough. The man was taken to hospital for a precautionary check up.