Residents under seige from arsonists have told of their terror as two new fires trapped them in their homes.

Fire fighters had to rescue one woman and lead several tenants to safety as the flames sent fumes and thick plumes of smoke throughout the block of flats in North Place, Brighton.

Julie Margie, who lives on the second floor, said: "I was really panicking. I heard the alarm but when I opened my door the smoke was so thick I couldn't see through it.

"I was choking and had to come back inside and stand by the window until the fire brigade could help me."

Fire engines rushed to the scene of the first blaze, which broke out on a stairwell at 9.20pm yesterday.

Arsonists are believed to have ignited a pile of debris left by recent building work, clogging the building with toxic smoke. As the fire took hold, plastic light fittings and rubber fixtures melted in the heat, creating fumes which poured into residents' flats.

One ground floor resident, who asked not to be named, said: "The smoke was really plasticky, really nasty. Everyone feels completely done in by it."

The fire engines were forced to return just three hours later as a second blaze followed in an empty ground floor flat.

Ms Margie said: "We were only allowed back inside at 11.55pm but at half past midnight there was a bang on the door. It was a policewoman telling us all to get out.

"They managed to put it out quickly but after the first two fires, I was too frightened to go to sleep in case I didn't wake up."

Firemen were forced to smash through the window of the flat next door to rescue a woman who is believed to have taken a sleeping pill to deal with the trauma of the first blaze.

A spokesman for East Sussex fire brigade said: "With the first fire there was mainly smoke damage but in the second incident the flat was very badly damaged. An investigation is now being carried out to establish exactly what happened."

Residents at the Chichester Diocese Housing Association-owned block say their lives are being ruined by the constant arson attacks against the building.

Ms Margie told The Argus: "It's at least the tenth fire in the last year-and-a-half. My daughter lives here too, and the fires have really worried her. She won't stay here at the weekends. With each fire she gets more and more frightened.

"It is worrying and I am frightened. They can't all be mistakes. I've been living here for 13 years but things have come to the crunch. Someone has to do something about this."

Residents fear that thugs are gaining access to the flats by jumping over a wall into the garden at the back of the building.

William Turnbull, who lives on the ground floor, said: "We have a garden outside. People can get in over the fence and can escape that way too.

"The bins have been set on fire about five times over the last year and a half. The police say the first fire was caused by a firework but they keep happening. They've put the bins under lock and key now because it wasn't safe with all the gas fittings being there.

"Even the bin men need a pass these days. It doesn't bother me too much, as long as I'm not on fire myself."

Chichester Diocese Housing Association were unavailable for comment.