A distraught young woman raced home to find her Huddersfield house badly damaged by fire.

She was alerted to a fire in Luck Lane, Marsh, today and raced back to find fire crews tackling a blaze at her home and two others.

The fire had started in one house but spread to two others.

Fire crews from Slaithwaite, Dewsbury and Halifax along with two aerial appliances, one of which was from Huddersfield, were called to fight the blaze which was reported to the emergency services at 12.30pm.

Cmdr Dale Gardiner said the fire had started in the conservatory at the rear of 105 Luck Lane and because there was no-one was in the house to spot it, the fire had spread rapidly to adjoining houses via the roof void.

House fire, Luck Lane, Paddock, Huddersfield.

However, he said prompt action by his colleagues prevented worse damage.

An eyewitness, former Huddersfield Grammar School pupil Michael Watson, said: “I was on my way down from Huddersfield New College in Salendine Nook when I saw a large plume of black smoke, I thought: ‘That’s not good’ and phoned 999.

“I went round the back and found the conservatory was on fire. Another man who came with me kicked in the front door of 101 so we could rescue a little dog that was barking away.”

Smoke from the fire in Luck Lane could be seen from Castle Hill.

Tim Hoyle, headmaster of Huddersfield Grammar School, which is situated directly opposite the blaze, said: “We had a warning that smoke was blowing across the playing fields so we had to get the children in. I then came out to see what was happening and clarify that there was no-one in the houses.

“Several students were sitting a GCSE Geography exam this afternoon so I stood in front of the school to make sure they could get in OK as the road was sealed off to motorists.”

Read more:

Tanya Armitage, a nurse who lives in Luck Lane, said: “I was on my day off doing a bit of gardening in the sunshine when I could see all the smoke coming out of the house. The flames were licking up from the conservatory in the roof.”

Richard Henshall, 46, whose partner lives in Luck Lane, said: “As I came to the end house I could see a dog that was barking. It was scared and ran into the back room and one of the teachers took the dog out of the way.”

Incident commander Dale Gardiner explains what happened

Video Loading

Mr Gardiner said: “We had a fire in 105 which we think started in the conservatory. We are not sure how it started. A fire investigator will be looking into the cause.

“There was no-one in any of the houses when we arrived. A lot of damage has been caused to the roof of one house.

“It was a tricky situation to deal with, as there were access problems for us to go in and tackle the blaze. But the crews did a great job in containing the fire and stopping it from spreading by and large to the other houses.

“It was devastating for the lady coming home to find her house on fire.”