FIREFIGHTERS had just minutes to save a rug shop going up in flames.

The blaze broke out at about 11.30pm on Tuesday after flames from a nearby clothing back in Tickhill Street, off Leeds Road, Bradford, spread to the single-floor shop next to it.

The building was fully smoke-logged and firefighters wearing breathing apparatus had to break their way in to tackle hot spots that were putting the business and its stock in danger of being destroyed.

Crew commander Adrian Bamforth, from Bradford Fire Station, said: "A few extra minutes and the whole lot would have been lost. The fire from the clothing bin had burned though into the building. It would have probably been no more than another five minutes and the blaze would have caught on."

The alarm was raised by a passer-by while the shop owner was at Ramadan prayers, said Mr Bamforth.

Once the fire was out, firefighters ventilated the shop which was left badly smoke-damaged.