Scores of workers had to flee a blaze which ripped through the roof of a former textile mill today.

The blaze broke out at the mill in Thornton Road in the Listerhills area of Bradford shortly before 11am.

Among those affected by the fire was Bradford rock band Terrorvision which has had a rehearsal studio in the building for four years.

More than a dozen fire appliances from throughout Bradford were called to scene as police blocked off Thornton Road from the junction with Jowett Street to Preston Street.

It took about half-an-hour to bring the blaze under control by a team of more than 60 firefighters.

West Yorkshire deputy chief officer Kevin Arbuthnot said the fire had destroyed part of the roof of the four and five-storey property which was being used by a number of small businesses including a kitchen company, a TV servicing company and an office furniture suppliers.

He said it was thought about 100 workers were inside the building and were successfully evacuated before the fire took hold.

He said: "There were people working in various parts of the premises. At the moment I'm not sure if there were people working in the part where the fire broke out.

"I am not in a position to tell you what caused the blaze and we have fire investigation officers at the scene.

"I would imagine our fire crews will be in attendance all day."

Terrorvision lead singer Tony Wright, who the T&A spoke to as he ran along Thornton Road to find out what damage may have been caused, said: "I was just on my way down to go for rehearsals with the band when I saw the flames coming out of the building.

"We used to rehearse in another part of the building but we moved to a couple of floors in the main building last year. We are due in the studio tomorrow to record a demo for the next album.

"I just hope that our rehearsal studios haven't been badly damaged."

Fire crews tackled the blaze from various points around the giant mill using an hydraulic platform to tackle the fire from above while firefighters wearing breathing apparatus fought the flames from within the building.

Colin Mennell, 54, saw the flames from his bathroom window in his house in nearby Weetwood Road.

He said: "You could see the flames coming out of the roof. They were going like billy-o, there were about 50ft high, as high as the chimney which runs down the side of the building.

"There was smoke pouring out of the windows. I just hope nobody was trapped inside."

Thornton Road remained closed to traffic while the firefighters continued to damp down the building and make it safe at noon today.

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