Firefighters battled late last night to save a Bradford mill building.

Crews from across West Yorkshire were mobilised to fight the blaze at the giant mill complex opposite Grattan, in Thornton Road.

The fire broke out shortly after 10pm on the second floor of the building which houses businesses including Sowaria, a property firm, and Bidos, a photocopying centre.

It spread through that floor rapidly before setting fire to the roof where flames shot into the black night sky.

Ten fire engines and specialist units were sent to the scene. Divisional officer Nigel Charlston, of West Yorkshire Fire Service, said the firefighters used a turntable ladder and a hydraulic platform and he praised them for confining the blaze to about one third of the second floor.

"The second floor was well alight because it had taken the roof out," he said.

"The flames were shooting up at one point but by 11.15pm we were confident we had the incident under control.

"This was a very serious blaze which could easily have spread across the top of the roof and we got it under control by using two aerial appliances and attacking the fire from both sides."

Fire investigation officers began searching for the cause last night and were expected to return today.

At about midnight, a Bradford Council building surveyor was called to assess whether the building was structurally sound before police allowed the road to re-open.