Four firefighters are thought to have died after a suspected arson attack at a Wealmoor vegetable packhouse in Warwickshire.
One fireman died after being pulled from the vegetable packing plant when the warehouse roof collapsed, but his three colleagues remained inside and are still missing. An "inch-by-inch" search of the "dangerously unstable" building, by more than 100 firefighters, could take as long as 36 hours, say fire chiefs.
The warehouse, formerly owned by Bomfords, which went into liquidation earlier this year, was bought in July by Wealmoor and renamed Wealmoor Atherstone.
Wealmoor commercial director Avnish Malde said: "The thoughts, prayers, and focus of the directors and staff of Wealmoor are with the emergency services and their families."
The four firefighters have been named as Ian Reid, John Averis, Darren Yates-Bradley and Ashley Stephens
Around 100 firefighters and five ambulance crews fought the blaze overnight on Friday in Atherstone on Stour, near Stratford upon Avon. It is believed to have started at about 6.45pm, when some of the packhouse's 300 staff were reportedly in the building.
Fire officers were only able to enter a few feet into the warehouse briefly on Saturday to search for the three missing firefighters, and spent “a few minutes” conducting an "initial visual assessment".
Structural engineers and Health and Safety Executive specialists joined fire and police officers at the scene of the blaze today.
The county’s chief officer said: "This is a very large and complex incident. The fire is extremely intense with large quantities of smoke. The level of smoke has caused problems for all of the emergency services.
"Large parts of the roof of the building have collapsed, which does raise serious concerns about the well-being of those firefighters."
Assistant chief officer Jon Hall, of Hereford and Worcester Fire Service, said crews will use heat-seeking equipment and specialist digging equipment to sift through the rubble of the building, which is still collapsing. Hall said: "It's still moving - we know it's moving, and that's why you'll see monitoring equipment so we know exactly what parts of the building are moving and when."
Prime minister Gordon Brown said he was “shocked and saddened” by the events.
John Roberts, who was Bomfords' managing director, and still lives nearby, was quoted in the Mail on Sunday as saying: "As far as I am concerned, the place is history."
The gutted warehouse is being treated as a crime scene and police said they believed the fire might have been started deliberately, although they are keeping an open mind.
