A MANHUNT is underway today for a thug who torched a Glasgow flat - with a victim inside.

Firefighters led the man to safety after a blaze was set in a three-storey property in the South Side of the city late last night.

Neighbours who heard "an explosion" looked out their windows to see the ground-floor flat alight.

Fire crews raced to the scene in Brisbane Street, Battlefield at around 11.30pm yesterday and found a fire had been started in the living room.

Police today confirmed the fire is being treated as "suspicious" and witnesses have been urged to come forward.

Fire chiefs said the man - whose age and identity has not been released - was removed from property and found to be suffering from suspected smoke inhalation.

He received treatment from paramedics at the scene and is understood to have refused to go to hospital

A source told the Evening Times: "It looks deliberate and an investigation is underway to find exactly what happened."

Today, the windows of the flat were boarded up and charred debris could be seen in the front garden.

A Scottish Fire and Rescue spokesman, said: "We received several 999 calls at around 11.10pm reporting a fire in a flat in Brisbane Street, Glasgow.

"Two crews were immediately sent from Polmadie along with another crew from Castlemilk and firefighters reached the scene minutes later.

"A man was removed from the property and a team of firefighters entered the flat in breathing apparatus and extinguished the fire.

"Firefighters searched the property and everyone was accounted for.

"Crews used a positive pressure ventilation fan to clear smoke from the premises and checked for any hidden fire spread by cutting away.

"Officers from our fire investigation unit attended and will work closely with police to establish the circumstances surrounding the fire."

Anyone with any information about the Brisbane Street fire is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101.

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