THE fire service has been praised for how they handled a major blaze that tore through a vacant warehouse.

At its height, there were eight engines dealing with the fire at Cragg Mills, off Great Horton Road, including aerial platforms raining down water on the centre of the large warehouse building to stop the fire from spreading.

The fire happened shortly after 7pm last night, and saw a major response from emergency services, with police road closures on Great Horton Road and numerous ambulances and doctors sent to the scene.

No one has been reported as injured, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The fire has left the building gutted, with several cars inside it also destroyed.

The building was the former base of Taison Lighting before the company moved to Ingleby Road. It is now vacant and has been earmarked for demolition to make way for a development of 24 semi detached homes. Planning permission for the site's re-development was approved by Bradford Council last June.

Fire crews from across West Yorkshire spent much of last night at the building, which is surrounded by housing. Due to the heavy smoke, residents were advised to keep their windows shut and remain indoors.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service also sent a major response group to the scene as a precaution, including two ambulances, a technical supervisor, a hazardous area response team and two doctors. They remained on the scene until shortly after 9pm when it was clear there were no casualties.

Councillor Joanne Dodds, the former Lord Mayor of Bradford, lives next to the site, and was at home at the time of the fire.

She said: "I saw the smoke and rang the fire brigade, but luckily they were already on the way.

"I saw lots of smoke, but didn't see any flames at all, just thick black smoke. Thankfully it was all blowing the other way.

"You could see eight fire engines here at one point as well as the ambulance service.

"There has been a problem with that building of young people playing in there. It is so dangerous, a neighbour told me they even saw a young person on the roof the other day

"It is going to be demolished now, but it has had various uses over the years like a storage warehouse, and at one time they fixed cars in there. I think they had recently started with demolishing it.

"The fire service did a fantastic job. When they got there the smoke was really thick. They got it under control very well."