A WOMAN has died in a house fire in Bradford.

Firefighters from Fairweather Green, Odsal and Bingley, were called to an address in St Leonard's Road, Girlington, just before 3.30am.

A police cordon is in place at the house this morning.

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: "Police were called to a report of a house fire in St Leonard’s Road, Bradford at about 3.33am today.

"Officers attended and found that the fire service had brought a woman out of the property.

"She received medical attention but was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

"Enquiries are continuing today with the fire service to establish the cause of the blaze, although it is not believed to be suspicious at this time."

Neighbours have said an older lady called Helen lived by herself at the property and had been there "for some time". 

One neighbour, Samina Mahmood, 29, said people were banging on the doors of the property, at around 3 to 3.30am in the morning as they could smell smoke. 

She said: "They were knocking on her doors, that's when they realised smoke was coming out of her house.

"The street was full of emergency services. It's awful, everybody tried to ring the police and do whatever they could do."

She added: "She had lived on the street for some time, she was so nice and friendly."

Farzana Bi, 41, who lives close by with her two young children and her husband, said she was woken by flashing lights when fire engines arrived at the scene. 

She said: "She used to say hello to me. She was a really nice person.

"She talked to people, she was a lovely lady. I'm still in shock at the moment.

"It's really upsetting."

Mohammed Yaqoob, 80, added: "I'm very, very sorry for this lady. She was a good lady."

Saqib Iqbal, 24, lives towards the top of the road and said his brother woke him up at around 4am in the morning to ask what was going on.

"I looked out of the window and saw all the flashing lights and thought I'd better check it out."

Mr Iqbal said an ambulance, fire engines, police cars and gas board were at the scene. He said the police helicopter was also out and the road was blocked. 

"I could not see much - I was quite worried thinking 'what's happened'."

Braford District Commander Martin Speed said: “‘At 03:27 yesterday morning WYFRS received a call to reports of a house fire on St Leonards Road, Girlington, Bradford.

"Fire engines from Fairweather Green, Odsal and Bingley fire stations attended the scene. On their arrival crews forced entry through the front door of the house and quickly located and rescued the occupant. Following crews then extinguished the fire.

“Firefighters and paramedics administered CPR but were unfortunately unable to revive the occupant. I would like to take this opportunity to urge people to fit and regularly check smoke detectors in their homes. Functioning smoke detectors save lives.”