THE police and fire service are launching an investigation into the cause of a major fire at the Richard Dunn Sports Centre last night.
The fire at the iconic Bradford building started at 6.45pm yesterday (Tuesday).
Eight fire engines were at the scene at the height of the fire and crews had to use some unusual tactics to battle the blaze, which spread to the roof of the building.
A joint investigation by the West Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is being launched this morning.
Simon Moore, watch commander at Bradford Fire Station, said: "We will assist police with the fire investigation.
"We will work together to determine if it was deliberate or accidental and if deemed deliberate the police will be looking to catch the culprit."
He said that although the roof had to be cut away to get water onto the fire, it did not collapse.
Watch commander Moore said that the firefighters had to be quick to get the blaze under control to stop it spreading.
"They had to get in there quick to get water on the fire to limit the damage. They did a good job.
"The firefighters had to use line rescue equipment attached to a point of the roof of the building to secure themselves because the gradient of the roof was such that couldn't work safely.
"It held them in position while putting water on it," said Watch Commander Moore.
"It's the second job that we've had to employ tactics like that. It's exactly the same tactics we used in the fire at the Odeon.
"In this incident, the fire spread under the roof tiles. And because roofing sheets are designed to keep water from getting underneath, we had to get onto the roof to take it all off."
Watch Commander Moore said after the fire service managed to move concrete blocks to gain access to the site, the road reopened at around 9.30pm.
He added: "We kept a watching brief on it overnight, checking for hotspots and making sure it didn't reignite. It's like babysitting for a couple of hours.
"When the fire service and police are all done at the site, we'll hand it back over to Bradford Council."
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