LESSONS have been learned from a tower block blaze in which two firefighters and a woman were killed. The comment comes after the production of a report into the tragedy which led to the deaths of firefighter Jeff Wornham, 28, from Sandon, and Michael Mil

LESSONS have been learned from a tower block blaze in which two firefighters and a woman were killed.

The comment comes after the production of a report into the tragedy which led to the deaths of firefighter Jeff Wornham, 28, from Sandon, and Michael Miller, 26 from Stevenage.

The third person killed in the blaze at Harrow Court in Stevenage was resident Natalie Cole, 32.

Herts chief fire officer Roy Wilsher said on the publication of the report on Tuesday: "Lessons will be learned and we will ensure that each of the recommendations is progressed.

"Some of the recommendations suggest that work should be done locally and others raised at national level.

"By using this report as a framework for the future we will try and prevent a tragedy like this ever happening again," he said.

Mr Wilsher said the service would also be considering recommendation in a report from the Fire Brigades' Union.

Cllr Keith Emsall, executive member for Herts County Council's community safety, said: "The fire was a severe and devastating incident.

"The Herts Fire and Rescue Service has examined every detail and produced this report which is extremely honest and open.

"The service is sharing the findings of the investigation with its own firefighters and will be sending a copy to every fire service in the country."

Cllr Emsall added: "Lessons have and will be learned from this incident."

The report has been published after a 12-month investigation into the blaze at the 17-storey tower block.

A week-long inquest in February into the incident returned a narrative verdict on Mr Wornham and Mr Miller and recorded a verdict of accidental death of Miss Cole.

In its conclusions, the report says that the two firefighters entered the flat engulfed in the blaze "without protective hose lines", and that "supporting control measures were not established".

The report makes 83 local recommendations and 11 national recommendations.

- The report and recommendations is available online at www.hertsdirect.org/fire