Probe begins into fatal fireworks depot blast

FORENSIC investigators yesterday began their painstaking examination at a firework storage depot where two firemen were killed following a massive explosion.

Access to the site at Festival Fireworks UK Ltd in Shortgate, near Lewes, East Sussex, had been delayed to allow around 20 acetylene cylinders to cool.

After the scene was declared safe on Tuesday, the body of one of the two firemen killed, 49-year-old firefighter Geoff Wicker, was removed and yesterday investigations begun in earnest.

Married father-of-two Mr Wicker died along with support officer Brian Wembridge, 63, when the factory was destroyed by the blast on Sunday afternoon.

Des Prichard, chief fire officer of East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, has said the inquiries into the circumstances leading up to the explosion and blaze will be lengthy.