Community left heartbroken after St Ives building fire

Firefighters from across the Bradford district scrambled to the former care home in the heart of the St Ives Estate just after 6.30pm on Tuesday. 

Pam Laking, of the Friends of St Ives Estate, said the fire has left those who live nearby distressed and upset.

"Everyone is heartbroken. They are very upset and feel very vulnerable," she said.

"I was phoned last night to tell me it was on fire and it was really distressing.

"It was first noticed at about 6.30pm. By 11pm, it was still burning quite badly.

Some of the windows were completely blown out (Image: Newsquest)"It looks absolutely terrible inside.

"It is so sad because parts of that building are hundreds of years old. It was an important part of the heart of the estate."

The Telegraph & Argus understands nobody was injured and those living nearby did not need to evacuate their properties.

When the T&A visited the scene at 9am, fire engines were still present.

Mrs Laking explained why the fire service may have run into difficulties when attempting to extinguish the huge blaze.

She added: "I keep contact with the people who live in the cottages that line the road and there was a chance that they may have had to be evacuated during the evening.

"They were very worried because the fire was spreading quite fast through the roof.

Firefighters remain at the scene (Image: Newsquest)"It's a very complex roof because, across the different centuries, people have just been building another chunk of building on it so it is up and down.

"One of the main problems the fire service had was the lack of a mains water supply, so they had to get most of the water from the lake which is some distance from the building.

"It can't have helped to speedily put the fire out."