'One of the darkest days'
The Fire Service was today coming to terms with one of its biggest losses since the War, with four dead in a blaze today being treated as arson.
The Fire Service was today coming to terms with one of its biggest losses since the War, with four dead in a blaze today being treated as arson.
See also: Exclusive video of blaze tragedy
An emergency call to a vegetable packing warehouse on a Midlands industrial estate ended in tragedy.
All four firefighters are believed to have been trapped when the roof of the building in Atherstone on Stour, Warwickshire, collapsed.
One firefighter was rescued from the building and taken to hospital with critical injuries but later died. The three others were this morning missing, presumed dead.
West Midlands Fire Service was called in, along with colleagues in Herefordshire and Worcestershire to help at the scene.
More than 80 firefighters were at the scene at the height of the blaze, which started at 7pm last night.
Firefighters were this morning seen attempting to open a large blue door into the warehouse before teams were being allowed in to check the building and search for the missing firefighters.
Flames, which were at their height during the night, had disappeared, but thick smoke continued to billow from the roof and the fire continued to burn in parts of the building. Aerial pictures of the warehouse taken from helicopters were being studied to identify areas of the warehouse that could be considered safe to enter.
Medical staff and an air ambulance were placed on standby from the West Midlands Ambulance Service during the fire.
Sources said there had been an explosion in the warehouse after the fire broke out. The spread of the fire is believed to have been aided by products held within it.
The dead firefighters are believed to have entered the building, owned by the company Bomfords, to assess the situation when it partially collapsed.
Families of those confirmed dead and missing had been informed this morning.
Warwickshire Fire Service chief fire officer William Brown said his thoughts were with those mourning the deaths and praised the firefighters "heroically doing their job" at the scene of the giant warehouse blaze.
He said: "We are deeply shocked by last night's tragedy.
"Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of our firefighters. The fire service has a strong family tradition - it is a close bond which allows us to do our work, often in difficult and sometimes in dangerous circumstances.
"The firefighters were heroically doing their job. More than 80 firefighters were in attendance and have been working tirelessly into the early hours of the morning.
"Our thanks go to our colleagues in the emergency service, the police, ambulance and of course our cross-border firefighters, who have worked with us and supported us through this terrible night."
Mr Brown said staff were this morning concentrating on searching for their fallen colleagues.
He added: "They are working in a very hazardous environment. We are relying on our colleagues from other fire brigades as well in order to resolve this incident, this is a regional effort that is going on here.
"In my career as a firefighter this is the first firefighter death I have had to deal with but tragic events have occurred through the history of the fire service. This is another tragic and horrible one but one that we will learn from. This fire has started in a building where we would not expect it to, we do not know what has caused it and we will approach it from that position, suspicious to start with and then find out why this fire has started.
"We are also working with our colleagues in Warwickshire Police and we have liaison officers put in place as well as fire officers and police officers at this very difficult time.
"We have got a very strong family ethic as firefighters across the country and we will be ensuring we look after the people that are part of our family. We will be using welfare staff we have within the fire and police services as well as local clergy, other people who can give support to families."
No crews from the Black Country were sent to the scene but West Midlands Fire Service used an aerial appliance from Coventry as well as using crews from the Coventry area to cover some of the stations within Warwickshire while the blaze was being tackled.
At the height of the blaze West Midlands Ambulance Service had five ambulances, four emergency doctors, two emergency care practitioners, one of which was from Birmingham and five officers at the scene.
West Midlands Ambulance spokesman Anthony Marsh said: "This has to be one of the darkest days in the history of emergency services in Warwickshire,
"This was a very large and complex incident. As well as our extensive team here, we have also tasked the Warwickshire and Northants Air Ambulance to fly to the area so that it is on standby should any casualties suffer serious burns and require immediate transfer to the regional burns unit at Selly Oak Hospital.
"We are working with colleagues from both the fire and police services.
"The fire at its height was extremely intense with large quantities of smoke; the level of smoke has caused problems for all of the emergency services."
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said this morning that he feared the worst over the missing firefighters. He added: "We are deeply concerned by the news emerging from Warwickshire. This could be the worst night for the fire service in decades."
Police are treating the fire as suspicious. The cause of the blaze is not yet known.
Chief Superintendent Mak Chishty, of Warwickshire Police, said: "A full investigation into the cause of this fire has already begun."
The warehouse was built recently for Bomfords, a sweet potato and spring onion producer employing more than 1,000 people.
The company entered into administration in June and appointed administrators from Deloitte to attempt to sell the business. The company boasted a turnover of £150m but was struggling with costs because of the construction of the warehouse, used as a pack house and administration base.
The warehouse is the area's major employer and today, as smoke rose into the horizon, local people stood in groups and watched.
Craig Hitell, 25, of nearby Barford, is a tractor driver at Bomfords. He said: "I'm supposed to be at work on Monday morning, and now I don't know what's going to happen.
"I'm really anxious about it. At least 1,000 people work at Bomfords, and I don't know what's going to happen to us now that our warehouse has been destroyed.
"We are a big company and this is such bad news, although the real tragedy is the firefighters losing their lives. Everyone here is shocked and can't believe what's happened. There are helicopters flying over my head, I've never known anything like it."
Steve Brown, aged 47, of Atherstone, said: "This must be the worst fire in terms of loss of life to hit Warwickshire. Atherstone on Stour, is such a sleepy village, I can't quite believe what is happening. When it broke out last night, we went up to the road to see what was happening. All you could see was a glow from where the factory should had been. "Police, fire engines and ambulances were whizzing past us all the time, we were watching for a little bit and then things seemed to die down, but suddenly there was a load of explosions. It was terrifying."
The welder added: "Bomfords is a 24 hour place - hundreds of people work there. We've been watching the news all morning, I can't imagine what it must be like for the firefighters still up there."
Farmer William Meadows, who lives nearby, described seeing flames shooting into the sky. He said he knew someone who worked on the site who had called him last night to say a fire had broken out. He said: "I am amazed how quickly the building had gone up."
John Maypoles, MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, said: "This is a terrible tragedy. Warwickshire is only a small service of around 250 fireman and to lose four in one night is a terrible tragedy for all of us. We are only a little area, and as you can see we are in the middle of nowhere. This is going to hit us and the service very hard."
