ARSONISTS set fire to a mattress outside a house - and could have sent the whole building up in flames.

The blaze started in a garden in Norwich Road, Wisbech at 11.35pm on Wednesday (July 14).

Crews extinguished the blaze within 20 minutes but a spokesperson for the fire service said: “If the fire had spread to the home, it could have seriously endangered those inside.”

The spokesperson warned people not to leave flammable items such as furniture, wheelie bins and rubbish outside properties, adding: “These could prove attractive to the would-be arsonist.”