A quick-thinking gas fitter who put out a blazing car feared a quiet estate could have been “gone up” in flames after a masked arsonist set fire to two cars parked across the road from where he was working.

Andy Smith, 40, ran across the road and used a coat to extinguish flames from a car which had been set alight in High Holly Garth, Long Lee, Keighley, in the early hours yesterday.

The arsonist, who was seen wearing a balaclava, is understood to have poured flammable liquid over the Citroen C5 before setting it alight.

Mr Smith, who was working at a house in nearby Delph Croft View, said: “I shot out and put the fire out with my jacket.

“I just wanted to put it out. I am a gas fitter and all I was thinking about is what would have happened if it had got hold of the gas pipe on the building next to the car. The whole estate could have gone up.”

The blaze quickly spread to another car, a Ford Mondeo, which a neighbour put out using a fire extinguisher.

Mr Smith said another neighbour had apprehended a person carrying out the arson attack before running away from the scene, towards Cherry Tree Rise.

Firefighters from Keighley attended the scene but the blaze was out by the time they arrived.

They called the police and officers turned up more than two hours later.

Mr Smith said: “It was all out by the time the fire brigade came. Then they rang the police, who came two and a half hours later. It's ridiculous. You can understand if it was a Saturday night but you would have thought they would have someone to deal with it quicker on a Tuesday.”

Detectives from Airedale and North Bradford CID are investigating and Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCO) were due to visit later yesterday. The cars were removed yesterday morning.

Thomas O’Driscoll, who has lived in High Holly Garth since the estate was built about 14 years ago, said: “It is a quiet area. We have never had any trouble here at all.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed that police were called at 12.07am by the fire service to reports of two cars, a Citroen C5 and a Ford Mondeo, on fire on High Holly Garth in Keighley.

Supt Gary Baker said: "We are treating this incident as malicious ignition. CID are investigating and door to door enquiries will be carried out along with obtaining any CCTV.

"Due to a high call demand overnight, it took longer than we would have anticipated to attend the incident, however we were confident that no suspects remained at the scene and that the Fire Service had extinguished the fire."

Anyone with information should contact Airedale and North Bradford CID on the non-emergency 101 number.