An “intense” blaze has wrecked a commercial garage in central Keighley.

Fire fighters were called to the scene in Beck Street shortly after 11.30pm last night.

A spokesman for the fire service said the property involved was a brick-built garage measuring seven by 15 metres, and that most of it was well alight by the time the crews arrived.

She said two fire engines from Keighley, an appliance from Haworth and an engine from Bingley responded to the incident, and that part of the street was cordoned off.

Watch commander Tony Pearson, of Keighley Fire Station, said: “We first got a report of a fire in Heber Street, though it was actually Beck Street. It was a commercial garage and there was some asbestos roof sheeting which did cause some problems.

“We could hear the fire popping and banging from some distance away, it was very intense and very hot. We used two large water jets initially. We were most concerned with stopping the fire spreading to a larger mill building which was only a couple of metres away. There was a big dog inside that mill who was very frightened.

“We had about 20 fire fighters in total and we were there for a good three and a half hours. It took an hour to make sure the fire was out.”

He said there were two scrap cars inside the garage at the time, one of which posed problems because it had contained a lot of fuel.

He said the property was gutted in the blaze and was being checked by structural engineers because cracks had been spotted in a wall.

He praised the hard work of his fire crews, adding: “They really did graft for a good 30 to 45 minutes at the beginning to get water onto the fire and stop it spreading to the mill next door. They did a great job.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.