Part of a mill devastated by a huge blaze is to be pulled down.
Fire investigation officer Lee Miller confirmed that the entire first floor of the old mill building off Britannia Road in Milnsbridge will be removed after it was devastated by a fire that broke out on Wednesday at noon.
Fire crews from Huddersfield worked through the night and stayed until 10am on Thursday to dampen down the roof of the two storey building, which was home to several businesses and private stores.
No-one was injured in the fire but thousands of pounds of musical equipment and textiles are thought to have been lost.
Mr Miller, who was still investigating the exact cause, believes that it could be accidental and possibly caused by optical equipment.
He said: “I believe I’ve found the area where it started.
“The cause is still to be determined but leaning more to accidentally at this stage.
“From what I’ve found, it started at the far rear of the first floor of the building in a unit that was badly damaged by the fire.
READ MORE: Fire crews battle blaze on industrial estate in Milnsbridge
“Hearsay from the owner is that it’s someone who stores optical equipment and is an optician and items I’ve seen in there seem to corroborate that.
“Fire crews have left and the building has been passed over to the owner and demolition teams.”
Northern Gas Networks were on scene to cut off the gas supplies.
Workers at the Colne Valley Accident Centre in the ground floor of the unit managed to move all their vehicles to safety and hope to be able to use the centre once it has dried out.
But the situation is not a happy one for Shelley Aldred, the owner of Quax recording studio, which is situated on the top floor at the opposite end to where the fire broke out.
She said: “We’ve lost most of our stuff. We had a grand piano and a lot of the other stuff was electronic so we think the cost is in the thousands.
“We were working on a musical script with a woman from LA. We’ll continue to work on it but all the master copies will have been lost as have other recordings.
“I’d like to organise a benefit concert to raise money for the people who’ve lost things.
“It’s very hard but we will pull through.”
