The search resumes today for two missing people after fears the pair, including a six-month-old baby, may have perished in a blaze in a derelict house used by vagrants.

It's not clear whether they were still in the house in Peat Lane, Pembroke when the fire started just after midnight.

The fire service said they had conflicting reports about the numbers of people in the house.

Divisional Officer John Pacheco said: "It varies depending on who you talk to.

"Anywhere between two and six people may have been in the building prior to the fire.'' And Police were unclear about the identity and descriptions of the missing people and appealed for information from the public.

Yesterday a steady stream of fire investigation officers and Police arrived at the scene and helped sift through piles of charred debris at the burnt out building shell.

Bits of a bureau the baby was said to be sleeping in were located but no human remains were found in what Police said was a very intense fire. The search was abandoned until today because of heavy rain.

Hours earlier seven fire trucks and 20 firefighters had battled for more than three and a half hours to control 10-foot high flames which destroyed the roof and walls.

Next door neighbour Florence Edness said a quick-thinking resident in the street behind stopped the fire spreading to her property.

She said: "He sprayed the grass between my house and the fire with water. If he hadn't done this it would have spread.

"I was in bed when a friend from Friswells Hill called to say she'd spotted a fire and it might be near my house.

"My mother is in her nineties, she's supposed to be deaf but she heard a cracking sound.

"Then I saw the house was ablaze and there were Police cars everywhere.'' She said vagrants used the blaze-hit property.

"I know a couple in their forties used to stay there -- the landlord put them out. I don't know if they went back.

"They were no problem, they only went in the wee hours of the morning. One of them was always hot.

"It's been abandoned for years.'' Another neighbour said she was barred by Police from getting back to her home after nipping out for late-night groceries and returning to see the fire.

She said: "There was a big mushroom of smoke coming out.'' She said homeless people had just moved into the empty house prior to the blaze.

Mother of two Chandani Alwis, who lives on the other side of the derelict property, said a couple had been using the property.

She said: "We sometimes saw them at night. Sometimes they would make noise and use dirty words.'' "My landlord's wife used to write to the Government about the house.'' A Police spokeswoman said arson had been ruled out at this stage while the fire service said the building had no electricity.