Firefighter killed and three missing in warehouse blaze

A firefighter died and three others were missing as thick smoke hampered efforts to fight a fierce blaze in a warehouse in Warwickshire last night. Ambulance staff worked to resuscitate the man at the scene and he was taken to Warwick Hospital with critical injuries, but later died.

The fire, in a vegetable packing warehouse on Atherstone industrial estate, was reported at 6.45pm. Police are treating the fire as suspected arson. A total of 100 fire crews from four counties were called out. No warehouse workers were thought to have been caught in the blaze, said a West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman. "The fire is extremely intense ...the level of smoke has caused problems for all of the emergency services," he said. "This is a very large and complex incident."