A Bradford mill building containing thousands of pounds of textiles was destroyed by a huge fire last night.

Smoke from the blaze at the Startex Commission Weavers in Priestman Street, off Drummond Road, Manningham, obliterated the Bradford sky last night.

More than 50 firefighters battled through the night and used ten appliances and two aerial platforms in an effort to save the historic building.

But the fire had already taken hold of the main part of the mill when firefighters arrived at 8pm yesterday.

"When we arrived the building was already heavily on fire," said sub officer Chris Hellas. "The smoke was obliterating the top end of Lumb Lane and there was quite a large orange glow.

"Within two or three minutes, the fire had broken through the roof and spread fairly extensively. Fortunately, we managed to get our aerial appliances into action fairly quickly."

He said firefighters managed to save the office block part of the building, but the main part of the mill was lost.

The fire spread quickly because of the timber floorboards, the age of the building and the textiles inside it.

"There was very extensive damage," said Sub Officer Hellas. "But it will be difficult to see what can be salvaged until we look in daylight."

Fire investigation officers were at the scene last night. Fire investigation officer Mel Holmes was on the scene at 8am this morning. He said: "The fire crews managed to stop it burning through the offices and to a furniture manufacturers but when the crews arrived it was already really well on fire and they had to drive through blinding smoke.

"I will go through all the premises to make sure I can get some video footage but it is too dangerous to go into some parts because the roof has collapsed."

Mr Holmes said the fire service will be using Dex, the brigade's sniffer dog, to see if an accelerant has been used.

The incident occurred almost a year since there was another fire which badly damaged the premises. On January 29, 2002, an arson attack caused around £500,000-worth of damage. At the height of last year's blaze smoke drifted across Valley Parade as Bradford City played Preston, and Lumb Lane was closed as smoke made driving conditions difficult.

Mohammed Ashraf Hussain, owner of Startex Commission Weavers, said: "We only started last April and we went through hell to get it up and running. I can't say anything at this moment, I'm not thinking straight."

Nina Magee, one of the 36 employees who turned up for work at 6.30am this morning, said while comforting a colleague: ''We are devastated. I have worked on and off for eight years for the same company. We've come down here to see how bad the fire is and by the signs of it it's total devastation."