MASSIVE fire rips through air conditioning factory at Rawdon UPDATE with VIDEO

Flames leap from the building

Large scale fire incident this afternoon (06/09/2013) at Leeds Road, Rawdon. Crews were called at 14:51hrs today to the premises of Airedale Applied Thermal Innovations where there building became an inferno as fire spread through the property measuring around 150m x 150m. All the members of staff were evacuated safely and no injuries have been reported.

Jets in use at the entrance to the building

Firefighters used aerial appliances, large hand held jets and Ground monitors to tackle the incident which spread rapidly. At its hight, 20 fire appliances and 100 firefighters battled the blaze.

Aerial appliance with Monitor in use

Speaking at the scene, incident commander Assistant Chief Fire Officer Dave Walton said it “quickly developed into a very serious fire”. He said: “From a West Yorkshire Fire Service perspective, this is a significant incident, involving a large factory complex.
“Fortunately there are no buildings immediately surrounding it, so we are able to tackle the fire and contain it to the single units that are on fire at the moment.
“People have been evacuated from the factory and a full evacuation has taken place. However at the moment we are keeping residents in place.”
He said his team had “battled very hard to save as much of the building” as possible, adding: “Unfortunately due to both the structure and the contents of the building, the fire has spread very quickly through the building. We have plentiful water supply and our guys and girls of the West Yorkshire Fire Service are working really hard.”

Breathing apparatus crews at the rear of the factory

 The main A65 Leeds Road was closed in both directions as firefighting operations continued, with more appliances attending as the situation developed. 

Aerial appliances came from as far away as Huddersfield to help control the fire

The incident at this time has been scaled down to 10 appliances but crews will remain for some considerable time damping down the building. It is thought the A65 Leeds road should open later tonight.

Dave Walton, Assistant Chief Fire Officer with West Yorkshire Fire Service, said fire crews were able to move into the building just after 8pm to put out flames. He also said parts of the factory had been lost as a result of the blaze and that sprinklers would have made a difference. A statement on Airedale’s website said: “The building was evacuated immediately and all personnel were accounted for.”

This short video clip shows the severity of the fire and smoke that billowed from the building and then away across the Leeds district.

Appliances attended from some of the following stations:
Leeds, Gipton, Rawdon, Shipley, Bingley, Keighley, Bradford, Pontefract, Cookridge, Stanningley, Mirfield, Batley, Halifax, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Garforth, Odsal, Moortown, Morley and Dewsbury


Investigations are underway to establish the cause of the fire.