FIRE crews were today damping down after a large blaze at a former textile mill in West Bowling, Bradford.

At its height, 12 fire crews were battling the blaze at the four-storey Ivy Mills, in Mill Lane, which broke out just before 8am yesterday.

Fire crews including Bradford, Shipley, Idle and Fairweather Green attended, with two aerial ladder platform appliances also used.

Fire Investigation Officers were still at the scene today in a bid to establish the cause.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said 100 per cent of the building was affected by the fire, mainly in the first and second floor, which were both disused.

The roof of the four-storey building also collapsed as fire crews were only able to tackle the blaze from outside the mill. That was still the case this morning as crews waited for a structural engineer to make an assessment at the scene.

Smoke from the mill building could be seen from Bradford city centre yesterday. Fire crews were damping down at the site this morning.

Representatives from Bradford Council's building control department will visit the site on Tuesday to assess the future of the building.

It was hoped Nelson Street will be re-opened to traffic later today.

Two businesses, H20 Auto Tint and Valet Centre and Realize Concept InteriorLtd, are located on the ground floor of the Ivy Mills building.

Gillian Krywycz, senior rental sales manager at Europcar, on Nelson Street, said: "It's awful.

"The building has been on fire five or six times in ten years, but I've never, ever seen it this bad.

"I saw smoke coming out of the building.

Mill Lane was closed at its junctions with Hall Lane, Nelson Street, Manchester Road, Prospect Road and Caledonia Street yesterday as the blaze was brought under control.

Jim Butters, area manager at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, said: "It was just impossible to get to the fire inside.

"The fire spread across three floors of the building."