Building company explain cause of overnight Leeds fire which required ten crews

Firefighters were called to an industrial building in Sheepscar after a blaze broke out in the roof.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue (WYRFS) confirmed that it was called out at 3.28am to Sheepscar Street North.

There was a fire in a large building.

The roof area was affected, the fire service said.

A total of 10 crews were sent to tackle the fire.

However, building company The Taylor Group Ltd told the YEP the reason why services had been called.

A spokesperson for the group said: "The fire brigade were called by the sprinkler system operator to an isolated incident on the top floor."

The small fire was contained very shortly after, according to the company.

"Work is back as normal in the building today", the spokesperson added.

A witness described spotting the huge emergency services response in the early hours of this morning.

Carolina Baranda, 20, lives opposite the building site which was the scene of the blaze overnight.

Having come from Portugal two years ago to live in Leeds, Carolina said she is ‘used to’ seeing fires due to the climate in her former home country.

However, she said she was left in total shock when she came downstairs at 5am when her husband woke to go to work.

Carolina was making up baby formula in her kitchen window -which directly faces the building - when she saw an ambulance and multiple fire trucks.

She said she couldn’t believe the blaze was “so close”.

“It is scary”, Carolina said.

“I was sure something was going on as I could see all the trucks.”

Carolina, speaking from her home, told the YEP she originally believed the fire service may had been “training” until she saw reports of the large scale incident response.

“My husband woke up for work and I went in to the kitchen to make baby formula”, she added.

“This was at about 5am this morning.

“Some of the fire service were leaving so it must have been towards the end of it, they might have already finished.

“I knew something had happened.”

Crews which attended the site included two from Leeds, two from Killingbeck, two from Hunslet two from Cookridge, a crew from Moortown and the aerial ladder from Bradford.

At lunchtime on Friday, builders had returned to work on the industrial building with no emergency services remaining on site.

The building faces the ring road which runs through the centre of Leeds, in Sheepscar.

Scaffolding has been erected around the entirety of the building and some workers were seen on the roof - the scene of the blaze.

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