Moment firefighter escaped mill fireball

Mill collapsing in a huge blaze that destroyed the building two weeks ago.

The video taken from Ruth Street shows how a fireball explodes over the flame-engulfed mill, narrowly missing a firefighter who was battling the blaze from an overhead platform.

David posted the footage in the Facebook group SaveTheClock, started by Newsome residents in a bid to save the remaining clock tower from demolition.

He said: “It was a terrifying night and it’s lucky noone was hurt.”

The noise of the floors collapsing was described as “chilling” by one Facebook user, while another called the video “impressive”.

The old mill building has now been demolished, with only the ground floor walls and its iconic tower left standing.

Contract demolition crew Kayedem have left the site, although there were fears for the tower after the company’s vehicles returned to the site on Monday.

Kirklees Council was alerted and said they asked the team to leave.

The council now says that any demolition work on the tower and remaining walls without their consent would be illegal due to its listed status.

A statement from the Kirklees Conservation and Design department said: “The owner of the mill approached us over the collapsed stone and the need to remove health and safety risks as well as being able to survey the remaining elements of the building.

“Having spoken to Historic England we have come to the conclusion that the collapsed stone that is contained within the walls and the glass from the singlestorey element can be carefully removed from site without listed building consent.

“The outer walls and the clock tower remain a listed building and as such cannot be removed or dismantled without listed building consent.”