Neighbours say they are living in fear of teenage firebugs following a series of bungalow arson attacks.

In the latest blaze a 74-year-old widow suffering from angina had a lucky escape when firemen woke her in her bed.

Flames had spread to Mary Delporte's home after thugs set fire to her M-registered Renault Clio outside on the drive.

The car was burnt out. The wooden trim of her roof also suffered damage, a burglar alarm melted and windows of neighbouring bungalows cracked in the heat.

Her next-door neighbour, who has been the victim of two arson attacks, claims to have witnessed an earlier attempt by teenagers to set the car ablaze the previous week. Mohammad Afzal said he saw a juvenile aged around 14 stuffing a ball of paper between the tyre and the wheel trim of the car.

The youth ran off when spotted, leaving a cloth at the scene. Mrs Delporte, pictured, of Shuttleworth Lane, Fairweather Green, said she has been targeted by young thugs who have thrown bricks through her windows and thumped on the walls and windows of her bungalow. "We are scared, because we don't know what they are going to do next," she said.

"They need someone to knock some sense into them. When the firemen banged on my bedroom window I was scared because I thought it was the thugs. I put my head under the sheets and hid."

Mrs Delporte added that firefighters had told her she was lucky the car had a plastic fuel tank as an exploding metal tank could have damaged properties.

Firefighters from Fairweather Green Station were called to the blaze at just before 2am on Saturday.

They tried to smash their way into her home before waking her by banging on the window. Mr Afzal, 58, said his house was attacked by arsonists twice in the space of two nights. On the second occasion thugs attached a firework to his door which caused damage.

The previous evening his home filled with smoke when young yobs threw a burning tyre on to his roof and set fire to a milk bottle hatch. "It is frightening to live here alone, I am scared," he said.

"I was lucky when the firework came through the door because if it could have hit me."

Mary's son Roland Delponte said: "This was mindless violence. People of mum's generation are not used to teenagers behaving like this. They were brought up on traditional Bradford values, when people used to look after each other and kept their kids on the straight and narrow."

Police are making inquiries into the latest blaze. A spokesman confirmed they received a report from West Yorkshire Fire Service of a suspicious car fire .

Firefighters are treating the blaze as malicious ignition.