Leeds city centre fire: Firefighters remain at Leonardo Building as investigation into cause begins - live updates
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service was alerted to the fire at the Leonardo Building in Cookridge Street at around 7.45pm on Saturday night.
Video and pictures quickly emerged of flames engulfing the building which was undergoing redevelopment and unoccupied at the time.
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Fire investigators working to establish cause of blaze
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Leeds city centre building engulfed by flames
Firefighters are tackling a huge fire in Leeds city centre which appears to have broken out in the last hour or so. Pictures began emerging on social media shortly before 8pm tonight.
Video footage shows scale of the fire
The Rev Jon Swales shared this footage that shows the scale of the fire as flames appear to have broken through the roof of the building.
Building hit by blaze was undergoing redevelopment
The fire appears to have broken out in the Leonardo Building or the neighbouring Thoresby House, both of which are currently being redeveloped.
City Centre buildings could be converted into 475 student flats
Early plans to renovate two of Leeds city centre’s most recognisable buildings are set to go before councillors later this week.
Cordon in place as emergency services work at scene
This footage from reporter Dennis Morton captures the intensity of the fire and shows the cordon that is now in place to keep members of the public at distance.
Fire service issues statement as neighbouring buildings evacuated
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has said that 10 fire engines are currently at the scene in Cookridge Street as the top three floors of the building remain alight.
It says a safety cordon is in place and surrounding buildings have been evacuated due to potentially unsafe structure of the derelict building.
Its crews are working with West Yorkshire Police and Yorkshire Ambulance Service. The Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) is also in attendance.
The call first came in at 7.47pm, with crews from Leeds, Hunslet, Killingbeck, Odsal, Moortown, Morley and Rothwell stations in attendance.
‘I immediately starting smelling smoke’ - eyewitness account
Journalist Rebekah McFadden has shared this account of what she has seen tonight:
I walked out of the O2 Academy and immediately started smelling smoke, but was not sure where it was coming from. I was on my way to bus stop and my usual route is right through Millennium Square. I saw the building on fire.
The police taped off the area but we were all still allowed to be there. Crowds of people were coming out of the restaurants and bars nearby.
After hanging around for 20 minutes or so, it continued to go up in flames and you could tell more fire engines were being called to the area. I couldn’t hang around too long because they ended up kicking everyone out of Millennium Square completely as they said they needed to bring fire engines through there.
I went around towards the other side near The Headrow and it was also taped off there. I asked a police officer if he knew what happened and he said he did not know yet, he was still waiting to hear. I also asked if there were people in there working and he said nobody was hurt as far as he knows.
Dramatic pictures from the scene
Dramatic pictures capture huge city centre blaze as crews battle to bring it under control
This is the scene in Leeds city centre as fire crews battle to bring a huge blaze under control.
Sound of fire crackling captured in video footage
Neil Whitley shared this footage of the blaze. It’s possible to hear the sound of the fire crackling and what may be parts of the building collapsing as the flames rise up.
Unconfirmed reports fireworks could be cause
There’s been some suggestion that fireworks might have caused the blaze, although this is unconfirmed at this time.
Reader Daniel Northfield said: “Some witnesses watching it from the Cuthbert [Brodrick pub] said they could hear fireworks being let off shortly before it happened. Not sure if this was a targeted attack or just a set of idiot kids causing havoc.”
Fire investigators will likely be at the scene already speaking to witnesses and starting to build a picture of what has happened even as crews continue the efforts to bring the blaze under control.
For now, the focus will be on bringing the incident to a safe conclusion though and crews are almost certainly going to be working at the scene throughout the night.