A blaze ripped through a block of flats and caused a gas leak in the Manchester Road area of Bradford this afternoon.

Two flats, one above the other, were wrecked in the blaze in Hawkshead Drive at about 1.20pm. No-one was inside at the time.

Firefighters at the scene said they were unsure what had caused the fire, which burned a hole through an aluminium-covered rear wall of the upstairs property. A wooden staircase leading to the upper flat was destroyed and the flames engulfed a gas meter on the ground floor.

Odsal fire station manager Chris Clarke said: “We searched the flats thoroughly but there was no one inside. The fire appears to have burned through a gas cylinder installation, causing a fairly major gas leak.”

Engineers from Northern Gas Networks worked to isolate the leak.

Neighbour Edgar McLean, 44, was asleep at the time of the fire, and said: “I heard banging and kicking at the door and shouting telling me to get out. It was properly ablaze, you couldn’t even stand in the street because of the heat.”