LONG-serving Keighley fireman George Higgs had a remarkable escape during a spectacular blaze at Aireworth Mills in 1898.

He was high on a ledge playing water on the conflagration below when a sudden increase in the pressure threw him off balance and he fell onto a burning mass of bobbins and packing-cases.

"He sprang up to a beam just above,", related the Keighley Herald, "but he had no sooner reached this charred piece of wood than he received a discharge of water full in the face which sent him back into the bottom."

At his next attempt he was able to climb by degrees back to his post.

He had injured his left hand and right shoulder, but attributed his escape from a "literal roasting" to his sodden clothes.

His presence of mind and courage were regarded as "prominent features of the exciting incident".

Charles Barton, headmaster at Holycroft School, wrote some laudatory verses:

"George Higgs, we deem that bit of work well done,

Done with good judgement and audacious will.

Keighley may well be proud of her cool son,

And count his pluck worth more than Aireworth Mill."