RESIDENTS engulfed by smoke from a fire in a bakery have spoken of their fear as they were forced to flee their flat above the shop.

Ethan Benjamin and Leah Khalfan were taken to Airedale General Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after the incident at Dave’s Village Bakery in Keighley Road, Crossflatts, Bingley, at about 4.30am yesterday.

Fire crews from Bingley and Keighley attended the scene, and a spokesman confirmed the cause of the fire, which caused significant smoke damage to the building, was an oven that had overheated.

Dave Shuttleworth, who has run the bakery for five years, told the Telegraph & Argus that the fire had been caused by fat catching alight from slow-cooking pork and the shop was fitted with working smoke alarms.

Miss Khalfan, who has a heart condition, said: “It was a frightening experience. Smoke had come into the flat, which still stinks of it. And the shop itself was absolutely full of it.”

Mr Benjamin, who works for Direct Line in Leeds, said he had only moved into the third-floor flat a month ago,

“There were three of us in the flat and we had no idea what was going on,” he said. “I heard the fire alarm going off and there was smoke everywhere.

“We got out of the flat and then the fire crews arrived.

“We have been at Airedale Hospital on oxygen masks, and they said we had breathed in high levels of carbon monoxide. Any more and we could have been poisoned.

Mr Shuttleworth said: “There was some smoke, which came from a piece of slow-roasting pork. All that happened was the fat had caught alight before I started work, which I do very early.

“But there were no flames and no-one was in any danger, and we do have working smoke alarms on the premises.

“However, I’m sorry for any inconvenience, and would like to thank the fire service who did a very good job.”