Eleven people were evacuated and one man was taken to hospital following a fire at a block of flats in Shipley.

Emergency services were called after a blaze started at a ground-floor flat in Alma Street, Windhill, at 12.30am yesterday.

Those who were rescued from the fire included two babies, who were treated by ambulance staff at the scene. The tenant of the flat, a man in his 30s, was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary after breathing in toxic smoke.

Resident Charlotte Gibson, 19, raised the alarm after acrid smoke started filling the stairwell and seeping under the door of her flat.

The mother-of-one, who lives in Alma Street with boyfriend Kevin Hollis, said: “I opened my door when the alarm started going off and there was a bit of foggy smoke and then it just started billowing up with thick, black smoke.”

She said her nine-month-old daughter had been staying with relatives but added: “There is a lady with a seven-month old and one with a baby who is just over a year old who got out and I called the fire brigade.”

Firefighters from Shipley, Idle and Bingley were called to the flats, which are owned by social housing landlord Incommunities.

Two ambulances and a paramedic rapid response car were also at the scene.

The evacuated tenants were treated by ambulance crews at the scene.

They were suffering from smoke inhalation and shock.

The heat of the blaze was so fierce that it completely destroyed the flat where it started and caused a window pane to give way.

  • Read the full story in Friday's T&A