WORRIED Wilfred Houton today spoke of his fear when a fire raged through the first floor of his neighbour's terraced house.The blaze ripped through a house in Heather Avenue, Ipswich.

WORRIED Wilfred Houton today spoke of his fear when a fire raged through the first floor of his neighbour's terraced house.

The blaze ripped through a house in Heather Avenue, Ipswich.

Smoke billowed in down Mr Houton's chimney and he was forced into the road as firefighters tackled the fire.

Mr Houton, 62, said: "It was terrible. I was really frightened.

"I went back into the house and saw smoke coming through the window and down the chimney.

"My stepdaughter Debbie couldn't sleep in her room because of all the smoke.

"If the fire had hit the gas pipe then my house might have blown up."

Outside the house lies the remnants of bunkbed and mattresses.

No one was seriously injured in the incident - the one woman and four children who live in the house are safe.

Meanwhile, an elderly woman was today forced to attack a fire with buckets of water after yobs allegedly torched her wheelie bin.

Celia Ambrose, 79, of Burke Road, Ipswich, was woken by the smoke alarm in the early hours of the morning and came down to find flames at her back door.

She said: "I was really scared. I got some water and just chucked it on."

Her neighbour, Martin Long, 35, was alerted to the blaze by some people on the way home from town and phoned the fire brigade.

He said: "I brought Mrs Ambrose into my house and sat her down.

"She was shocked and concerned about her back gate and her back door but she seemed fine."

Mr Ambrose's daughter, Barbara Moss, arrived soon after and helped her mother clean up the mess.

She said: "My mum is nearly 80 years old and lives on her own.

She never puts anything in that wheelie bin.

"I think the people must have used a bag or something highly flammable to start this."

The fire destroyed the back gate and scorched the kitchen door before firefighters put out the blaze at 5am.