Fire crews tackled a blaze last night after being alerted by residents who found their Bradford street had become smoke-logged.
Firefighters traced the smoke to a single storey building in between two mills at Peel Park Works, Undercliffe Road, and had to use hydraulic spreaders to cut their way through metal gates into the complex and then through the building's metal doors.
Inside they discovered a portable compressor on fire on the back of a lorry trailer.
Crews from Bradford, Idle, Stanningley and Fairweather Green attended because of fears the fire could spread to the neighbouring buildings.
The alarm was raised shortly after 10pm by people who live in Sydenham Place.
Bradford station crew commander Jarrod Stoney said: "We had to send four of our crew into the single storey building with breathing apparatus and a large jet hose and called for back-up support from three other stations in case the fire spread to the old mills on either side that are made mostly of wood.
“If the flames had spread it would have been a totally different job."
Crews finally left the scene shortly after midnight.
The cause remained under investigation today but was not believed to be suspicious, said Mr Stoney.
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