A TOP West Yorkshire firefighter has told councillors that a derelict Bradford school is one of the most problematic buildings in the area.

Dave Walton, Director of Service Delivery at West Yorkshire Fire Service, said Yorkshire Martyrs School was a building that the service was heavily pushing to be demolished due to repeated fires.

He had been asked what the fire service was doing to try to prevent arson attacks in West Yorkshire’s derelict buildings when he referred to the prominent school site off Westgate Hill Street, describing it as an “arson hotspot.”

Yorkshire Martyrs School, next to Tong Leadership Academy, shut its doors in 2010, and has remained vacant ever since.

Over the past 12 years the condition of the building has become increasingly perilous, and fire crews are regularly called to the site to deal with blazes thought to have been caused by young people trespassing on the site.

The callouts put repeated strain on fire stations in Bradford due to the size of the site and the need to make sure nobody has been trapped inside the building.

The site is owned by Batley-based Apollo Beds, who have recently expressed their desire to develop the site for housing.

At a meeting of West Yorkshire Fire Authority on Friday members were given an update on some of the biggest fires in the area in recent months.

Some of these were in derelict buildings, and have been judged to have been arson attacks.

One incident, a fire at the vacant Logistics House off Neville Road in Bradford on June 27, led to 58 firefighters being scrambled to the scene, as well as road closures.

That incident has since been found to have been arson.

Leeds Councillor Karen Renshaw said: “There have been numerous arson attacks on derelict buildings. What recommendations or advice do you give to owners of these sites as to their responsibilities?

“If we have young people able to go into derelict buildings it can become a very unsafe place for them to be.”

Mr Walton said: “With many of these incidents we’ll speak to the owner and give them advice on how to prevent incidents from happening again.

“One building, Yorkshire Martyrs, has had a significant number of reported incidents.

“We’ve worked in partnership with authorities and the landowner to ultimately get the site demolished.

“It can’t be fully secured against arson and has become an arson hot spot.

“We’re working to push for the demolition of the building.”