ARSONISTS were today blamed for a fire that almost claimed the lives of two firefighters.

Crews were forced to flee the burning Costcutters supermarket in Church Street, Dunnington, York, only moments before the roof of the building collapsed.

No one was hurt in the blaze, which took more than five hours to extinguish; but today the building was in ruins, with neighbouring buildings also damaged.

The blaze was started in bins at the rear of the store just before 10pm last night, police and fire crews confirmed, and quickly spread, the flames fuelled further when a refrigeration system exploded.

Kirsty Hardy, 18, had finished working at the store at 9pm, but saw the flames when she looked out of the window of her house, opposite the store, an hour later.

She said: "I saw an orange bright light when I looked out and there was a big thick cloud of black smoke.

"I called the fire brigade and at about 10.30pm I could see smoke at the front of the building.

"Between then there were three explosions from the back.

"At first it was just the bins on fire, then it just spread."

Kirsty's boyfriend, Jodie Calladene, of Malton, said: "Five or six firemen went inside, then the main fire lady said something and all of them came out of the doors.

"We could hear crackling and I saw them all running away quickly - then the roof caved in. Everyone just ran back. Then we could see flames and the building falling down."

Divisional Officer Chris Stark, of North Yorkshire Fire Service, confirmed that the roof had collapsed after officers had fled the building.

He said: "It's standard procedure to look to make sure there was no people trapped within the building. Once we are sure of that we would withdraw officers.

"We are tackling the fire defensively."

Station Officer Andy Hopkinson said two crew members had a particularly lucky escape.

He said the officer in charge of the operation recognised signs of an imminent roof collapse.

He said: "He withdrew his crews and literally as they were walking through the door the roof collapsed behind them. They were quite lucky."

Local resident Val Train said she heard the fire take hold.

She said: "It sounded like a hot air balloon when they get going. I've lived here for 17 years and nothing like this has ever happened.

"They have had people set fire to the bins before, but never like this. This is the main shop in the village."

Store manager Sharon Knight, who watched the fire's progress with a number of colleagues, said the bins had been set alight before. She said: "All shops have problems, not just here, it's quite good here really."

Sergeant David Kirby said: "We suspect it is a suspicious fire, we have already got a number of lines of inquiry."

Anyone with information should phone police on 01609 783131.

Updated: 10:34 Wednesday, July 16, 2003