URGENT action has been demanded to secure empty houses scheduled for demolition, after a fire in a derelict property threatened occupied homes.

People living in Eldon Lane, near Bishop Auckland, were evacuated as a fire started by arsonists ripped through two empty terraced houses in Arthur Street on Monday night.

Three fire crews battled for two hours to prevent the flames spreading to other homes in the row.

The affected properties, mostly privately owned, are among those to be demolished in an area of Eldon Lane known as The Hollow.

Wear Valley District Council plans to knock down 51 houses and modernise 338 in a £2m scheme to revitalise the area and halt further decline.

But Wear Valley district councillor Chris Foote Wood said residents living in the area were "terrified" because empty houses around them were targeted by vandals and thieves.

"I've been speaking to residents who are very frightened and very annoyed. The council must either demolish the empty houses or brick them up before somebody loses their life," he said.

George Nicholson's house in Arthur Street is surrounded by boarded-up properties. He will soon leave to live in temporary council accommodation.

"I'm worried that once I get there they will forget about me and I will have to stay somewhere I don't want to live," he said.

"But once they get us out of these houses, it won't matter if they burn the blinking lot."

Director of housing Frank Bouweraerts said: "We are in the process of buying the houses from the owners. We can't demolish them until they are in our ownership.

"Money spent on bricking up properties, which are going to be demolished, would be better spent improving the area. It is the responsibility of the owners to make their properties secure."