The fire was believed to have begun in the evening and quickly spread across the top floors of the Leonardo building, which has been under renovation for the last 12 months.
Located near the city’s Millenium Square, crews from the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) were joined by the police, an ambulance service, and a specialist team – Yorkshire’s Hazardous Area Response Team (HART). WYFRS later confirmed that a safety cordon was put in place, with surrounding buildings – including pubs, bars, and restaurants – also evacuated due to the “potentially unsafe structure of the derelict building.”
Fire crews
Eyewitnesses claimed they heard “loud bangs” and “explosions” coming from the building
Eyewitnesses claimed they heard “loud bangs” and “explosions” coming from the building. Fire crews were able to contain the fire relatively quickly and evacuees from neighboring buildings were eventually allowed to return.
The senior fire officer at the scene, Incident Commander Dale Gardiner, admitted: “Due to the number of calls, the initial incident commander had 10 engines on (the) scene to deal with the fire, which meant it could be contained to the top three floors."
“It was dealt with quite quickly and crews worked fantastically hard to stop it (from) spreading further or going into other nearby buildings.”
fire on the outside of the building
It is believed that the fire began on the outside of the building and spread through the plastic wrap and scaffolding surrounding the site: “The fire itself was in the wrap surrounding the building. It was the scaffolding which had caught fire, which made it difficult for crews to put out,” said Gardiner.
Listed building is a former council-owned building that is currently being converted into accommodation
“We had special appliances on (the) scene including aerial ladders, with crews well-trained to stop the fire from the outside. This then allowed us to put firefighters inside the building, creating a pinch point by stopping fire outside and inside at (the) same time.”
Leeds city council councilor, James Lewis, said: “I’m hugely thankful for the quick response from the fire service, they stopped it (from) becoming a much more serious and destructive fire. I’m sure it was very worrying for people nearby. Certainly, it’s a very serious incident and had the fire service not reacted so quickly, it could have been much more devastating.”
Renovation of a council-owned building
The listed building is a former council-owned building that is currently being converted into student accommodation by contractor Robertson Construction. The renovation is part of a £62 million project by developer McLaren Property and is due for completion in August 2023 prior to the beginning of the academic year.
Following the fire, a spokesperson for the construction company said: “We confirm a fire incident occurred on Saturday evening at our project in Leeds city center, and that there have been no reports of any injuries. We are supporting the emergency services in their investigation to establish the cause of the fire. We are also conducting our own investigations to ensure the safety of the public, our employees, supply chain, and other connected stakeholders.”
WYFRS added that while the extent of the damage caused by the fire is also not yet known, the blaze was mainly contained to the outside.
