By Andrew Barrow
The Daily Post 

Photo Warwickshire County Council Clockwise from top left: Darren Yates-Badley, Ashley Stevens, Ian Reid and John Averis.

WARWICKSHIRE, England — The search for three firefighters missing in the charred shell of a warehouse devastated by fire may take up to two days, the fire officer leading the search said last night.

More than 100 specially-trained urban search and rescue firefighters began the task of locating their comrades who are missing, feared dead, in the shell of the vegetable packing warehouse in Atherstone-on-Stour, Warwickshire.

Chief officers said the search could take at least 36 hours and teams may need to shore up the building in Warwickshire before probing the more dangerous parts.

One firefighter, Ian Reid, has already been pronounced dead, after the blaze which began in the early evening of Friday.

Speaking at their home on the outskirts of Stratford yesterday, his wife, Julie, said she had been called on to identify the body of her husband.

Firefighters have been unable to get access to the building to locate the three who remain missing.

As the search continued, relatives of the three missing men began to grieve. They have been named locally as Ashley Stephens, 21, John Averis, 27, and 24-year-old Darren Yates-Badley

Flowers laid
Gathering with family members outside Alcester fire station, where all four men were retained firefighters, Mr Stephens's teenage fiancee laid flowers outside the main doors.

Grief-stricken Emma Crocker, only 17, and mother of the couple's three-month-old son, George, wrote on a card attached to her flowers: "I love you with all of my heart and more. I will look after our baby boy. You will never be forgotten and you will never leave our hearts. You're a hero, babe."

The card was signed: "From your honey Emma and George."

Another tribute, from sister Kerry said: "No words can express to you how I feel. You are my brother, the one person who meant so much."

A former friend of Mr Yates-Badley — who was married just last month —  laid flowers at the fire station this morning.

School friend
Lucy Coombs, 26, said: "I went to school with Darren and I knew him through the gym where he worked.

"When I heard, I was devastated, especially as he had only just got married.

"This is a sad loss for the community. Because this is such a small town, everyone knows everyone else."

The nine rescue teams, each made up of a dozen firefighters from services all over the UK, have seen action in the aftermath of major earthquakes around the world, said assistant chief fire officer Jon Hall, of the Hereford and Worcester service, which has taken over the search.

He said: "We are keeping an open mind. It may well be that we need to extend (the search) to bring in some construction techniques to move girders and the like."

Photo Warwickshire County Council An aerial ladder platform at the scene of the warehouse fire, Saturday.

Warwickshire firefighters have been battling the flames and trying to recover their missing friends since the fire broke out on Friday evening.

One source said there may be "emotional issues" surrounding the search, but Mr Hall added: "They know what they are going to find and they are able to act in a dispassionate manner."

Cheshire's chief fire officer, Steve McGuirk, speaking as president of the Chief Fire Officers' Association, said: "This dreadful incident is a sharp and poignant reminder to us all of the risks faced by our firefighters on a daily basis and that there is no such thing as a routine incident.

"Every time our firefighters are called to an incident, they put their lives on the line.

Thankfully firefighter deaths in the line of duty are rare."  

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