Fire service issues major update following huge Willenhall blaze

A 11.47pm on Monday, sixty West Midlands Fire fighters were scrambled to the scene where a huge fire had broken out at a number of mixed-use units in a large building on Owen Road in Willenhall.

The fire service said 13 fire engines attended to try and dampen down the fire using several main water jets, as well as deploying a drone and a hydraulic aerial platform. They were all still there at 7.45am the next day.

West Midlands Police and ambulance services and utility companies also attended the scene.

An update issued by the fire service said the damage was so bad that they could not carry out a proper examination.

A spokesperson said: "The building was so badly damaged that our investigators were unable to safely carry out their usual thorough examinations. As a result, the cause is unknown."

Jonathan Evans, who has worked at his father's business JTB Pressings for more than 15 years and is now the director, said: "We took a big loss today. We've had to move all the stuff down the bottom of the site. It is affecting a few of the businesses down here, four of them. We've been helping everybody out as part of the local community for the 20 years we've been here. This is it, it's hard today.

"One of the businesses that has been affected has lost a million pounds worth of machinery, buildings have gone down.

"It has affected us, still structural. We don't yet know what happened but regarding the business work it's one of them. You move on, you pull together and move on.

"We have had a couple of fires here in the past 20 years, three or four thefts of steel, and now this. I can't believe what is going on to be fair, it is crippling everybody. We all stick together around here, all the small businesses which are trying to grow, and we all need to look out for each other."