A 30-YEAR-OLD man was led to safety by fire crews after being found at the scene of a fierce blaze which ripped through an unoccupied house.

The man was later taken into police custody and charged with arson.

Fire crews spent four and a half hours at the empty property in Walmersley Road, Bury, after being alerted to the outbreak at 4am on Wednesday (May 23).

During the firefighting operations, both carriageways of the road was closed to traffic for more than two hours.

Station Officer Pete Seddon said there were two seats of fire in first and second floor rooms of the three-storey property.

He said: "The man was on the ground floor and was disorientated and rather the worse for wear. We led him outside and attempted to give him oxygen, but he declined."

The fire crews from Bury, Ramsbottom and Heywood were assisted by an aerial ladder and emergency salvage tenders.

Flames penetrated to the roof section of the unoccupied building, which was the target of an arson attack at Easter.

Ironically, builders were set to begin renovation work on the Victorian terraced house next week.