Elderly residents had to be evacuated from a care home after a 'suspicious' fire broke out in a bedroom.

Around 15 residents and staff at Springhill Care Home off Fairfield Street in Accrington fled the building on Sunday evening before fire crews arrived.

The incident happened at around 6.30pm on Sunday, August 31 and emergency services were at the scene for around 90 minutes.

Lee Cook, watch manager at Hyndburn fire station, said: “We were called to reports of a bedroom fire and on arrival we found the room was well alight.

“Four firefighters wearing breathing apparatus went inside to fight the fire. There were also reports of a female occupier inside but she had managed to get out safely.”

Mr Cook said a joint police and fire investigation is being carried out into the cause of the fire which is being treated as suspicious.

He added: “The staff did an excellent job and they were out of the building by the time we arrived.

“Severe fire damage was caused to a single bed and there was smoke damage to the room, toilet, a nearby communal area and staircase.”

Theresa Swan, general manager at Springhill Care Home and Specialist Care Centre in Accrington, said: “A small fire was reported in one of the bedrooms in our specialist care centre on Sunday evening.

“Staff quickly moved everybody to a safe part of the home in line with our procedures. The fire service attended to put out the fire which was contained to the one room which suffered some smoke damage.

“Nobody was hurt or injured and I would like to thank our staff and the fire service personnel for the sensitive way in which they dealt with the incident. “We will now be working with the fire service to investigate the cause of the fire.”

Anyone with information call police on 101.