A pensioner told today how he found his elderly neighbour engulfed in flames after fire swept through her flat.

Alfred Rogers, 76, was sitting in his front room with his wife Joyce, 74, at 8pm yesterday, when the emergency fire alarm sounded in the sheltered accommodation where they live in Baildon.

The former wool factory safety officer instinctively dashed out of his front door in Knoll Park Gardens and spotted a red fire warning light above the home of his neighbour.

With his wife by his side the couple opened the unlocked door to be greeted by a plume of smoke.

The couple made it into the lounge of their 76-year-old neighbour but were horrified to find her sat on a burning settee.

Mr Rogers said: "As we went through to the lounge the whole place was full of smoke. The lady has a settee up against the wall which was burning.

"There was a mass of flames with her in the middle. There was smoke climbing up the walls and it was obvious that we couldn't do anything else and we were being beaten back by the fumes."

But Mrs Rogers, who has had two heart attacks, hurried back to her own flat and grabbed a giant bath towel and soaked it with cold water.

She said: "I got the towel and threw it over her but it was too late. We've been neighbours for some years and I know she has trouble with her mobility.

"We haven't seen her out of her flat for a couple of months. It's terrible what has happened."

Mr Rogers said his training as a fire safety officer with Heydeman Shaws wool warehouse meant he treated every fire alarm seriously.

Fire crews from Shipley and Idle were called out to the flats, and had to use breathing apparatus to get in, but the woman, who has yet to be identified, was found to be dead on their arrival.

Shipley's Station Officer Jeff Glover said: "When we arrived there was a gentleman outside the block waving and trying to get our attention.

"The fire alarm was sounding and he told us that there was a person trapped in the flat. Straight away two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus went straight into the flat with a hose reel.

"The was smoke in the communal stair case and when they got inside the flat was heavily smoke logged. They made search of the property. A second crew from Shipley wearing breathing apparatus joined them and very quickly they told us that they'd found a body in the lounge.

"She was an elderly lady but there was no chance of reviving her."

Station Officer Glover said officers from the brigade's Fire Investigation Unit were called to the scene but the blaze is not being treated as suspicious.

He said there were a number of possibilities for the cause of the blaze but none had been confirmed.

Lynden Bailey, who lives nearby the homes which are thought to be sheltered accommodation, said: "I was just walking home as I had been up to the shop. I saw there was smoke, but in the flats round here people are always starting smoke bombs off.

"I thought it was something like that, but then the fire brigade came and smashed the window and the smoke came pouring out."

The fire was contained to one flat. One woman whose grandparents live in the block described the elderly residents as frightened and shaken.

Investigations into the cause of the fire are now under way.

Police Sergeant Anwar Mohammed said: "At the moment it doesn't look suspicious but we have to keep an open mind."