A FIRE that "severely" damaged a sports hall due to become part of a major sporting development is being treated as arson.

Fire crews were called to the former site of Wyke Manor School at 8.20pm yesterday after reports of smoke rising from the sports hall.

Six fire appliances and around 20 personnel were on the site, off Mayfield Avenue, tackling the fire until midnight.

A structural engineer from the fire service assessed the building last night, and an engineer from Bradford Council will visit today to assess the damage.

Police have this morning told the Telegraph & Argus they are treating the fire as arson, and are appealing for anyone who may have seen anything suspicious at the time to come forward.

A witness last night said: "The roof is now showing signs of collapse and plumes of toxic smoke are filling the sky over the village and beyond."

Unconfirmed reports said youths were seen running away from the scene.

The blaze had spread between the "sandwich" panels of the metal building, and it was dealt with by crews from Bradford, Odsal, Raistrick and Cleckheaton. There had been fears the building could collapse, so firefighters tackled the fire from the outside.

The sports hall is part of plans, approved last year, for a multi million pound sports facility.

The development would include a cycle track and sports pitches, with the sports hall refurbished to include facilities for indoor sports, and expanded to include a new canteen, changing rooms, a fitness room and a new reception.

Councillor David Wharburton (Lab, Wyke), who like his fellow ward councillors has worked for several years to push the project forward, said: "I've been up and it doesn't look very good.
"Structural engineers are going out to assess things, and once we have their report we will have a talk with officers and assess the situation."

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: “The building was  severely damaged by the fire and we will secure the site today to prevent anyone from entering.

"The Council will have to properly assess the extent of the damage to decide whether the building should be demolished or not. This incident does not affect our aspiration to develop a sports village on this site.”

A police spokesman said: "This has been confirmed as a suspected arson. We would ask that anyone who witnessed anything to call police on 101 quoting crime reference number 13170259198."