THE owner of an industrial unit that burned to the ground in a dramatic fire last week has been left devastated at the loss of his "life's commitment".

The blaze ripped through the building in Holland Street, Radcliffe, on Thursday morning, with fire crews remaining the scene until the following day to bring the fire under control.

One man was seen leaping from a ground floor window to escape the fire, which investigators say was caused by an accidental electrical issue, but no one was injured.

Mohammed Muneer built the unit in the early 1990s to set up his frozen food manufacturing business before renting the space to a clothes recycling firm following his retirement, and says he is deeply upset at the sight of his building in ruins.

The 72-year-old, of Eton Hill Road, said: “I was away in Saudi Arabia and landed back here at 12.30pm on Thursday. When we were driving down Cross Lane I saw the smoke and I realised that it was my building that was on fire.

“We only rented it out in January after the clothes firm's old building in Dumers Lane had been hit by the floods.

“I built that place myself. My son, my wife, and I worked so hard to create that business.

“I don’t know how this could have happened. It’s upsetting to think that I built it and now it’s in ruins. It was my life’s commitment and I thought it would stay there forever."

Crews from Whitefield, Bury, and Farnworth and an enhanced rescue unit were first called to deal with the incident at 7.35am and used four jets and two high pressure lances to fight the blaze, while nearby residents were advised to keep their windows and doors shut.

Firefighters also used an aerial appliance to fight the fire, with demolition teams ordered to help knock down part of the single-storey building so that crews could access the "deep-seated" areas that were structurally unsafe.

Mr Muneer added: “I don’t want to go down there and see it because it’s too upsetting for me.

“I came to this country with nothing in my pocket and worked hard to build that business. I never thought that it would end up like this after I had retired.

“The first thing my wife said when we saw the flames was, ‘I hope there’s nobody in the building’. The most important thing is that no one was hurt.”

Nearby neighbour Claire Conroy, of Hamer Street, was first to report the incident to the fire service.

She said: “I had come downstairs to do some washing and saw two other neighbours outside. I thought it had just gone foggy, but it was the smoke.

“I ran outside and realised what was going on. There was black smoke coming out of the building and I rang 999. After I had called, I saw a man jumping out of the first floor window.

“The building has been completely devastated. My car got covered in ash and the spray that was coming back from the fire hose was tainted with smoke and debris.

“You could see some of the debris being carried up by the heat. It was a little disconcerting. You don’t know what sort of things they were storing in there, there could have been gas bottles or anything. We weren’t evacuated so you would hope the fire service knew there was nothing too dangerous inside.”