Four fire crews were called to a blaze at a garage and scrap yard in Idle yesterday.

Neighbours of Springfield Autos reported seeing thick plumes of smoke billowing into the sky above Arthur Street as the fire took hold of a garage building which had one car inside it.

Two PCSOs were stopping people from accessing the site, which firefighters were at for three hours from around 10.30am.

Two large hoses snaked to the scrap yard from water supplies in Springfield Place and Rowantree Drive as fire crews tackled the fire in the blackened garage.

An ambulance car arrived at about 11.20am, but a spokesman for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said no-one was injured in the fire, which was accidental.

A woman living nearby said she and other residents from Rowantree Drive had seen smoke coming from the yard at around 10.30am in the morning.

Barbara Bordass said: “Me and my friends were just sat nattering and a friend asked if we’d heard an explosion and sirens.

“The smoke was just billowing and there were a couple of explosions.

“We went outside and saw the neighbours and just thought ‘what’s going on?’”

Mrs Bordass said homes were not evacuated.

The fire service spokesman said he was at the scene from 10.30am until 1.30pm and heard no explosions, but said tyres involved in fires could make loud banging sounds.

Another onlooker said: “We just saw black smoke. It was like something from Baghdad. It was heavy black smoke.

“It was high up – double the height of the houses.”

The yard is home to cars, vans and truck parts, plus portable buildings and stacks of tyres.

A spokesman for the company, which offers MOTs, services, diagnostics and repairs, said he did not have time to discuss the incident yesterday.

Police were called to the scene at 10.43am and were there until 12.15pm.