THE true scale of the loss of some of the district’s most distinctive buildings is laid bare today in our report about the numbers of mill fires.

That more than 100 incidents have been recorded in the past six years is bad enough, but the fact that more than half of the blazes were later found to have been started deliberately is all the more shocking.

Part of the problem is that some of these buildings have been allowed to fall into such decline by their owners that they become easy targets for thieves, vandals or rough sleepers which, according to West Yorkshire Fire Service statistics, is also a major cause for fires being started.

No-one, of course, can pretend it is a simple or inexpensive task to maintain and secure vacant mills for which there is no immediate commercial use and therefore no income to be generated.

But many of these often iconic buildings are architecturally important enough to have been given protected status by conservation group Historic England, which gives their owners added responsibility to ensure their survival.

It is heartening, however, that work is going on by Historic England and Bradford Council to look at new ways of making mills viable again with a summit being planned in the city next year to share expertise.

There are, of course, success stories like Salts Mill, where imagination and drive turned a once derelict building into a tourist attraction in its own right.

But many mills remain vulnerable.

It would be a tragedy if more are lost for good.