House damaged in arson attack
Thirteen firefighters spent more than an hour dealing with a suspected arson attack which left a house severely damaged.
Crews from Wolverhampton fire station, including four with breathing apparatus, were called to deal with the blaze at Wayside in Pendeford.
Matt Smith of West Midlands Fire Service said it was initially thought that somebody was trapped in the council-owned end terrace property, but it was found to be empty when they arrived at around 10 o'clock on Wednesday night.
Police are now investigating the cause of the fire.
The alarm was raised by a neighbour, who returned home after visiting his son.
The man, who did not want to be named, said he smelled smoke and went into his back garden to see where it was coming from.
He said: "The lady who lives there was moving out, so I thought at first she might have been burning rubbish.
"I then went round the front and saw the fire in one of the bedrooms, and I got my wife out. A neighbour then called the fire brigade.
"I was stood outside when one of the windows blew out, it made a terrible noise, it was quite frightening.
"There was a lot of smoke, you could see the flames coming out of the bedroom window."
He said the neighbour was a woman called Jan Oliver, who had lived at the property for some years.
Mr Smith said more than half of the upstairs of the property was damaged, and more than half of the roof space.
Catherine Hickman of West Midlands Police confirmed that the blaze was being treated as arson, and that investigations were continuing.
