A man is in hospital with back injuries after leaping from a first-floor window as flames ripped through a cottage in Chichester early today.

It is believed the man was sleeping rough inside the derelict cottage which is due to be pulled down as part of a multi-million pound development scheme.

He was found semi-conscious outside the cottage on the former Rowes garage site and taken to St Richard's Hospital. His injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

The first fire crews on the scene at 1am broke down the front door of the building but were beaten back by a wave of electrical sparks which made it unsafe to go inside.

It was several hours before they could pick through the debris to make sure that no other rough sleepers had been trapped by the inferno.

Back-up crews from Bognor and Midhurst had to be sent to the city when another fire broke out at the same time in the grounds of the Bishop's Palace Gardens close to Chichester Cathedral. A storage hut was badly damaged and tools were destroyed.

It was the second night running that crews have been called to the Rowes site in The Hornet area where a former garage, car showrooms and petrol station are to be bulldozed to make way for homes and shops.

A senior fire officer said the site was becoming a problem area.

Assistant Divisional Officer Roger Woods said: "We have been called to several small fires on the site which have been started deliberately and last night the same fire crew were here dealing with a burnt out car."

Flames were leaping from the roof of the former staff cottage when the first of 20 firefighters arrived.

West Sussex fire brigade investigators were today examining the scenes to discover how the fires started.