A MOTHER and daughter have told of their terror after a suspected serial arsonist targeted their first-floor flat.

Julie Connelly and Sophie Corbett were woken by a neighbour banging on the front door of their home in Rose Hill Street, in Derby.

Mum Julie ran downstairs, where she was told to get out of the flat, but ran back up to get daughter Sophie – to be confronted by the sight of flames leaping high above their first-floor window.

Firefighters had to come eight miles from Long Eaton because appliances from nearby city stations were dealing with another fire, believed to have been started by the same person. A third blaze was started later.

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service is treating all three fires in the Normanton area as suspicious.

In at least two cases, wheelie bins were pushed against doors and set alight.

Julie, 50, said: "Whoever did this must be a lunatic or a psycho. They need to be caught and locked up."

Senior Derby fire officer Bob Curry said: "Whoever started these fires has shown a total disregard for life."

Julie and Sophie had been dozing in front of the TV in the early hours of yesterday when the fire started outside their flat.

Julie said: "If our neighbour hadn't have woken us it doesn't bear thinking about what might have happened to me and Sophie."

Sophie, 17, said: "It is worrying to think that someone would deliberately do this. They must be mad."

The first fire was at about 3am yesterday, in Violet Street. At its height, appliances from six stations and 35 firefighters were tackling the flames.

Neighbours said they heard explosions as windows were blown out.

The blaze ripped through a second-hand goods shop, and spread to the roof of the neighbouring Saheed Bhaghat Singh Welfare Centre and the roof of a barber's shop.

The second fire in Rose Hill Street was shortly before 4.30am, and involved a wheelie bin being set alight and pushed against the rear of the property where Julie and Sophie live.

The third fire, in Portland Street, involved two wheelie bins being set alight and pushed against a house at around 5.20am.

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service group manager Mr Curry said: "We are very concerned about these three fires which we believe are linked.

"The most serious one, in Violet Street, gutted one building and spread to others as a result of deliberate ignition.

"Lives could have been lost."

Andrea Luscombe, 43, a school supervisor, of Upper Dale Road, was woken by the Violet Street fire.

She said: "My partner heard the explosion first and thought it was someone trying to break into the house.

"We looked out of the bedroom window and the flames were shooting into the sky.

"My worry was that there could have been gas cylinders in there."

Assma Akhtar, 27, also of Upper Dale Road, said: "I was asleep in my bedroom when my sister came in and said she had heard a couple of loud bangs from the shop over the road.

"The flames spread really quickly and were high out of the roof of the shop."

Mat Lee, from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue, said: "We have been investigating the cause of the fires while police will be looking to find the perpetrators."

A spokesman for Derbyshire police confirmed crime scene investigators were at the Violet Street fire as part of the joint investigation

Anyone with information on how the fires started should call 0345 123 3333.