FIREFIGHTERS have been praised for their efforts in tackling the major fire at an historic mill in Great Horton on Tuesday evening.

They were praised for their “marvellous” and “brilliant” work, after more than 50 firefighters from stations across Bradford and West Yorkshire were called to the Victorian mill building in Great Horton Road at 5.30pm on Tuesday.

More than ten fire engines and two aerial appliances were needed to tackle the blaze, which started in the roof of the four-storey Harris Court Mill.

READ MORE: A nearby business has demanded the mill be demolished following Tuesday's fire

The top floor and roof of the empty, dilapidated building had been destroyed by the blaze, and fire investigations officer had to wait for the building to be signed off as safe to enter by a structural engineer from Bradford Council yesterday.

One crew remained at the scene yesterday damping down the charred remains of the building’s roof, and fire crews finally left the scene 20 hours after being first called to the mill.

Ben Bush, group manager at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The quick actions of initial crews on scene in getting a water supply prevented the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings.

“Firefighters did a fantastic job and managed to contain the fire to the roof and upper floor of the Mill.

“We would also like to praise our colleagues at West Yorkshire Police and other partner agencies for cordoning the area off and helping to keep the public safe during this incident.”

Councillor Joanne Dodds (Labour, Great Horton) sits on the West Yorkshire Fire Authority and said she lives just up the road from Harris Court Mill.

She said: “It was certainly a big fire, we were all in a Council meeting when we heard about it.

“It was strange how the fire was all on the top floor and in the roof.

“It’s always so sad when it is another mill that goes up, it is part of our heritage and we have lost so many of them over the past few years, and because they are so old and they have a build up of oil and grease over the years, they tend to go up quite quickly.

“It doesn’t look too bad though considering the ferocity of the fire.”

Cllr Dodds said that she is unsure what the future will hold for the old mill, which is made up of the four-storey building hit by the fire and another three-storey building.

It has stood empty for more than ten years after the Yorkshire Envelope Company which had been based there moved

In 2007 plans to turn the building into 136 apartments was withdrawn after the person who submitted the plans went bankrupt, with a £1.5 million deal to buy the building falling through.

Since then, there have been calls for the building to be demolished but Bradford Council stated in 2012 demolition would only be considered as a “last resort”.

Cllr Dodds said: “Mills like this are part of our heritage so it is a difficult one.

“It is a shame that it has just been left to rot. Every time I go past I look at it and it’s just rotting away.

“When you look around the district and look what has been done with other mills, which have become housing, or used for business or culture, the mill had great potential so it’s a shame nothing has been done with it.

“The fire crews absolutely deserve praise for their work dealing with the fire so quickly.

“Because of the build up of oil and grease over the years, mills tent to burn very quickly but they have managed to contain it to the top floor.

“It was well alight before they even got there so what they have done is marvellous and they have saved the bulk of the mill; they did a great job.”

Peter McIlvenny, managing director of Whaley’s, based in Harris Court, added: “We are very lucky and I am indebted to the fire service who have done a brilliant job, the whole of Harris Court could have gone up in flames.

“They said if the wind had picked up or been blowing in the wrong direction it could have been a different story, but thank God nobody has been hurt and our business was safe."