ARSONISTS who attacked a house in Selby while two men slept inside could have killed them both, emergency workers said today.

Firefighters were called to a house at Ousebank Farm, Barlby, after a member of the public reported that petrol-bombs had been thrown at the house in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A spokesman from Selby Fire Station said that a flammable substance had been poured through the letterbox of the house.

He said that the cause of the fire was deliberate and the two male occupants had been lucky to escape with their lives.

The two men had been sleeping when one of them heard the smoke alarm and woke up. He woke his friend and the two men managed to escape unharmed through a window.

He said: "This shows the importance of having a properly fitted smoke alarm in the home. Without the alarm these two gentlemen would probably be dead."

The house received 70 per cent smoke damage and 25 per cent fire damage. The fire was contained mainly behind the front door.

A Peugeot van was seen in the area at the time of the fire and police believe it may possibly be connected with the incident.

A police spokesman confirmed that they were investigating the arson attack, which was reported at about 2.25am yesterday.

In another violent incident in North Yorkshire, a man was shot as he grappled with armed intruders in his garden.

He was taken to Northallerton's Friarage Hospital with a minor head injury after challenging three men at his house in Kepwick, near Thirsk.

The attackers escaped in a car stolen from outside the house.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "The householder saw the three men and challenged them, and one produced a shotgun and fired it.

"The householder then grappled with the intruder and was slightly injured when the gun went off."

The men escaped in a silver Peugeot car which belonged to a lady visitor who arrived during the incident at about 8.30pm yesterday. Its registration number is W783 WAJ.

The injured man, who was kept in hospital overnight, said two of the intruders were white and one was black. They escaped towards the A19.

Updated: 14:45 Wednesday, July 31, 2002