I certainly dont want to go too off-topic regarding this tragic incident in Warwickshire, but for those of you who did not know, here are some tragic statistics:-
1960. 19 firefighters were killed in Britain’s worst disaster for the fire service when a Glasgow whisky and tobacco warehouse went up in flames March 28, 1960. Fourteen men from the Glasgow Fire Service and five men from the city's Salvage Corps were killed when a massive explosion blew out the entire side of the building at 1 Cheapside Street, sending hundreds of tons of masonry on to the crews below. Three fire appliances were buried under the rubble and the fire took a week to extinguish.
2007. Two firefighters were killed on September 26 this year as they tackled a warehouse fire. Part-time firemen Brian Murray, 46, and 26-year-old Mark O'Shaughnessy lost their lives as they tackled the blaze at a disused factory building in Bray, Co Wicklow.
2006. Two part-time firefighters died when a fireworks factory exploded near Lewes, East Sussex, on December 3 last year. Brian Wembridge, 63, died along with Geoff Wicker, a 49-year-old retained officer. The blasts were so loud they were heard in Uckfield, 12 miles away.
1958. Two firefighters were killed in January 1958 while tackling a fire in the basement of Smithfield Market. The fire, which burned for three days, was one of the most difficult London Fire Brigade had faced since the Blitz. Station Officer Fourt-Wells and Firefighter Stocking died after becoming lost in the cellars of the market. The tragedy led to the introduction of breathing apparatus, with masks and oxygen tanks.
2005. Michael Miller and Jeff Wornham died in February 2005 when they battled in vain to save a mother trapped in a blazing 17-storey tower block in Stevenage, Herts.
2004. Bill Faust, 36, and Adam Meere, 27, were killed in a blaze at a children's clothing shop in east London in July 2004. Mr Meere, who had only finished his training two months earlier, was killed when the roof of a shop and flats complex gave way in the blaze. The men had been part of a squad of 40 firefighters trying to rescue residents from the fire in Bethnal Green, east London.
1972. Seven firefighters were killed in a warehouse fire on Glasgow’s Kilburnie Street on August 25, 1972, after one was trapped inside the building and six of his colleagues attempted to rescue him.
1969. Five men from the London Fire Brigade died when oil tanks exploded as they tackled a riverside blaze at Dudgeons Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, on July 17, 1969. It remains the greatest single loss of London firefighters since the war.
1996. Two part-time firefighters died after rescuing a child from a house fire in Blaina, South Wales, on February 1 1996. Kevin Lane, 32, and Stephen Griffin, 42, had pulled one child from the building but were caught in a delayed backdraught when they returned to search for a second.
1996. Fleur Lombard became the first woman firefighter to die on duty in peace-time Britain on February 4 1996. She was struck by falling debris as she and a fireman entered a supermarket in Staple Hill, Bristol. The 21-year-old firefighter was posthumously awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal in recognition of her bravery.
2007. Sub Officer Paul Mallaghan, 46, was killed when he was hit by a vehicle as he tackled a car fire on the A1M near Stevenage on June 16.
2004. Father-of-two Richard Jenkins died after he was caught in a fireball in an explosion at a burning wooden bingo hall in Ely, Cardiff, in May 2004. He was the first firefighter to enter the building after it had been engulfed in flames up to 30-feet high
2003. Firefighter Joe McCloskey, 50, when he fell through the bar store roof during a fire at the Gorteen House Hotel in Limavady, Co Derry, in November 2003. His colleagues had already risked their lives inside but were forced back by the fierce heat.
2003. Off-duty firefighter Alex Kent, 25, died as he tried in vain to save his brother Phil, 23, from a house fire in East Sussex in January 2003.
2002. Firefighter Bob Miller, a 44-year-old father of two, died after falling through a floor while searching for occupants in a smoke-filled building in Leicester, in October 2002.
997 firefighters were killed in Britain during World War Two
Since the end of World War Two nearly 300 firefighters have been killed on active duty. Their names, together with those of the 997 firefighters killed in Britain during the war, are inscribed on a bronze memorial on the south side of St Paul’s Cathedral. Each year the names of other firefighters who have lost their lives are added.
