The Environment Agency is hunting the owner of an illegal tyre dump after a blaze created a cloud of toxic smoke.

Officers had already warned of a "deadly disaster" after discovering 12,000 tyres at the Girlington site 18 months ago.

But they were unable to track down the owner to take preventative action before the fire on Sunday.

A spokesman from the Environment Agency said officers had visited the site only days beforehand to find it locked and secured.

"The Friday before, we checked up on the site and it appeared there weren't any extra tyres," he said.

"We have been keeping watch of the site since we found out about it, but we could not take any action as we have to serve papers on the owner. It's not our land so we can't go on it or order the tyres to be taken away."

Thousands of tyres went up in flames in Duncombe Road at about 3.30pm on Sunday. The site was one of two illicit dumps uncovered in an Environment Agency operation in May, 2000.

A West Yorkshire Fire Service spokesman today warned of the environmental dangers of tyre dumps across the district.

"The amount of smoke from these fires is incredible and the run-off pollutes the environment. They are difficult to put out as they are usually quite compact.

"In Bradford there are even piles of tyres in basements. The problem is that people aren't prepared to pay to have tyres taken away, so they dump them."

Station Officer Dave Sidebottom, of Bradford fire station, who attended Sunday's blaze, said: "The huge pall of smoke was visible from miles away.

"By the time we got there, it was difficult to see whether petrol had been poured on or if somebody had built a small fire with paper or wood, but it certainly wasn't an accident.