Major fire at West Yorkshire business park
A BLAZE ripped through a converted West Yorkshire rag mill, putting it at risk of collapse and endangering other businesses on the site.
Firefighters from Dewsbury, Cleckheaton, Leeds, Morley and Ossett attempted to control the fire at the three-storey building at Batley’s Greenhill Mills.
Everyone was evacuated from the building, with neighbouring businesses also evacuated from the estate as the fire raged.
Tiffany Johnson of ASG Fabrications, one of the 10 businesses located in the mill, told TheBusinessDesk.com: “The building that was ablaze was a rag mill set over three floors.
“One of our units is actually next to the rag mill, the only thing separating us from the burning building was a the sub-station.”
Ms Johnson said that that hundreds of thousands of pounds of machinery and on-going projects were endangered by the blaze, although the fire was eventually isolated in the rag mill.
She added: “Parts of the building were falling into the car park on the opposite side of the building to us, and that was setting car lights off. They were blowing up – the fireman I spoke to said at least eight cars were on fire, and you could hear loud crashing noises.”
The immediate impact on ASG was minimal, though some staff were sent home, although there will continue to be some disruption.
“With the way the wind was blowing we seem to be rather lucky. Other companies further up Grange Road have been evacuated and not allowed to go back whereas just half of our company were,” she said.
“The next couple of weeks are going to be strange. We will have to come up with way of securing our stock and building, and figure out how we are going to our goods delivered until they open the entrance on to Grange Road.
“Hopefully what remains of the rag mill will be knocked down quickly as possible. I just hope all the other businesses around have not been too affected by this.”
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service area manager Nick Smith, who attended the fire, praised firefighters for their “tremendous effort” in tackling the large blaze.
He said: “This was a mill building used predominantly for textiles and when crews arrived the building was well alight, with the fire spreading quickly. Firefighters worked in very difficult, windy conditions to prevent the very real danger of the fire spreading to neighbouring buildings. The mill was also at risk of collapse, which posed further difficulties for firefighter safety.
He added: “Crews were aware that the water supply in the immediate area around Greenhill Mills, Batley, was not sufficient for the scale and seriousness of the fire, therefore they had to find hydrants further afield to tackle the fire. This is quite common when dealing with fires of this scale.”
