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Breathing apparatus may have had a part to play in the deaths of three of the firefighters at the Atherstone warehouse fire. A report in Birmingham’s Sunday Mercury newspaper quotes a senior police source as saying the three retained firefighters – John Averis, Darren Yates-Badley and Ashley Stephens – probably died of suffocation, which may have been caused by them running
out of air or by a failure of their breathing apparatus.
The source said that when radio contact with the firefighters was lost, a search party was sent in. Rescuers found the men lying on the ground with alarms sounding on their breathing apparatus. Although the rescuers managed to extract Ian Reid, they were unable to get out the other three and shortly afterwards, the roof collapsed.
The report also raises questions as to why the retained firefighters went into the building, when apparently the full time firefighters who were on the scene shortly after the alarm was raised decided to withdraw from the building.
The bodies of the three retained firefighters were eventually recovered after a three-day search of the site.
Click below for a link to the full report in the Sunday Mercury.