A MAN was taken to hospital with burns to his hands after a fire swept through terraced flats at Farm Croft, Skipton, on Monday night.

The blaze was tackled by fire crews from Skipton, Silsden, Grassington and Keighley.

Also at the scene was an aerial ladder from Harrogate and a support unit from Richmond.

The affected flats were at the end of of a terrace of six and the fire caused severe damage to the ground floor, first floor and roof.

Adjacent properties suffered smoke damage.

The alarm was raised at 9.40pm and fire officers were still at the scene on Tuesday, trying to establish the cause of the blaze. They later said it was due to an electrical fault in the loft space.

It was one of three fires reported in Craven over a 24-hour period.

Firefighters from Skipton, Grassington, and Hawes also tackled a blaze in a garage attached to a house in Reservoir Road, Kettlewell, on Monday afternoon.

At one point, eight breathing apparatus were in use along with two hose reel jets.

The blaze destroyed the garage and its contents – two quad bikes and a ride-on lawnmower – and the house was smoke-logged.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Petrol spilled on the garage floor and ignited when the ride-on lawnmower was started.”

The third fire was at commercial premises in Burnsall in the early hours of Tuesday and destroyed a tumble drier.