A giant display of fireworks lit up the sky as fire crews tackled an explosive warehouse blaze in Bradford city centre.
Rockets and bangers soared through the roof and windows of a two-storey warehouse storing fireworks which caught fire yesterday morning.
Firefighters from Bradford, Odsal, Shipley, Fairweather Green, Halifax and Batley fought the blaze for over an hour at the Mr Fireworks premises in Grattan Road at 4.50am.
The fireworks were spotted by a police car in the city centre.
It is believed about £2,500 worth of fireworks were destroyed by the fire, which woke up nearby residents.
Worried local resident
Carole Arnold, 32, said: "It was really frightening.
"We were woken up by this really loud bang. I thought the house was being bombed.
"We ran outside and saw these fireworks exploding in the sky, not far from us. It was quite pretty really once we got over the shock."
Bradford's fire station manager Keith Robinson said: "It was very dangerous for the firefighters because there were big explosives going off inside the warehouse.
"Fireworks in the open are dangerous enough but these were fireworks going off in a confined space and also coming out of the building. It took us 45 minutes to get the fire under control before it was safe enough to enter the building.
"Fireworks were coming out of the roof and through two windows which failed during the fire. It was
spectacular. Fire crews coming to the scene said they could see the fireworks going off from four miles away."
Grattan Road was closed off throughout the day yesterday as firefighters investigated the cause of the incident.
Mr Robinson said the building was locked when they arrived and they had to force entry.
The operation to put the fire out was run by a mobile command unit which was sent from Batley fire station.
The owners of the Mr Fireworks business declined to comment when contacted by the Yorkshire Post.
29 September 2006
Rockets and bangers soared through the roof and windows of a two-storey warehouse storing fireworks which caught fire yesterday morning.
Firefighters from Bradford, Odsal, Shipley, Fairweather Green, Halifax and Batley fought the blaze for over an hour at the Mr Fireworks premises in Grattan Road at 4.50am.
The fireworks were spotted by a police car in the city centre.
It is believed about £2,500 worth of fireworks were destroyed by the fire, which woke up nearby residents.
Worried local resident
Carole Arnold, 32, said: "It was really frightening.
"We were woken up by this really loud bang. I thought the house was being bombed.
"We ran outside and saw these fireworks exploding in the sky, not far from us. It was quite pretty really once we got over the shock."
Bradford's fire station manager Keith Robinson said: "It was very dangerous for the firefighters because there were big explosives going off inside the warehouse.
"Fireworks in the open are dangerous enough but these were fireworks going off in a confined space and also coming out of the building. It took us 45 minutes to get the fire under control before it was safe enough to enter the building.
"Fireworks were coming out of the roof and through two windows which failed during the fire. It was
spectacular. Fire crews coming to the scene said they could see the fireworks going off from four miles away."
Grattan Road was closed off throughout the day yesterday as firefighters investigated the cause of the incident.
Mr Robinson said the building was locked when they arrived and they had to force entry.
The operation to put the fire out was run by a mobile command unit which was sent from Batley fire station.
The owners of the Mr Fireworks business declined to comment when contacted by the Yorkshire Post.
29 September 2006