ARSONISTS are suspected of breaking into a derelict former care home and setting it on fire.

Firefighters were called out last night to Elizabeth House after smoke began pouring out of windows from a blaze on the ground floor.

The care home was shut down in March 2008, and has become a target for vandalism and hideout for drug taking, according to neighbours.

Although the cause of last night's fire is still officially under investigation, Enfield Council said today it believes someone climbed over garages into the grounds of the building and started a fire inside.

Dorothy Halls, 66, who lives opposite the former care home in Old Road, warned a more serious fire could have spread to overgrown trees in the grounds and beyond, and called for the council to bring the site back into use.

She said: “I phoned up a few weeks ago and said I had seen young kids going in there. Then this happens last night.

“The council just doesn't listen, I'm afraid, and the worst thing they have done is put a fence round it because now you can't tell what's going on in there.

“There used to be a care home there, but now it's really run down, and who's fault is that? The council's. It's been empty for at least a couple of years, but if they put something there, this kind of thing wouldn't happen.”

The fire broke out just before 10.30pm, and was brought under control by 12.15am. Windows on the top floor have been visibly charred by the blaze, and firefighters say parts of the ground floor were also damaged in the fire.

The council sent contractors round this morning to board up some of the ground floor windows to try to avoid further trespassing. It is understood last night's break-in was not the first since the care home shut down.

The derelict building is earmarked for demolition, to make way for a new 70-bed care home on the same site.

The council said it is “now ready to agree arrangements for the contractor to proceed with demolition”, although an exact date has not yet been agreed.

It added a formal search for a firm to provide the new care home is already underway.