26 November 2007

Firefighters are still at the scene of a fire at the Lone Tree pub on the A421 Bletchley Road, Thornborough, near Buckingham after the alarm was raised by passing motorists at about 3am.

All people have now been accounted for after early fears that someone was inside the building.

What remains of the roof of the front part of the building has collapsed on to the first floor, and the two end walls are now unstable.

Station Manager Dave Norris, who is in charge of the incident, said: "Although there is a lot of damage at the front of the building, crews have done extremely well to prevent the fire from spreading to other parts of it.

"During the early part of the incident, one person was unaccounted for and firefighters carried out a search. I am pleased to say that it is now clear the building was not occupied at the time of the fire and the person has now been accounted for."

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service was called to the fire at 3.05am. Crews from Buckingham, Winslow, Bletchley, Brackley and Bicester attended, along with the turntable ladder from High Wycombe, the hose-layer from Stokenchurch and the Command and Control unit from Aylesbury. At its peak, there were nearly 50 firefighters and officers present.

Firefighters used two sets of breathing apparatus, two jets, two hose reels and a monitor. The fire is now out, but firefighters have been using the turntable ladder to search for areas which might still be smouldering.

Thames Valley Police had to close a stretch of the A421 but were able to reopen it at about 6am.

Relief crews will be arriving at the scene at about 8am, and a fire investigation team will start to work on establishing the cause of the fire at about 9am.

Members of Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service's Urban Search and Rescue Team from Beaconsfield have been shoring up unstable parts of the building to help fire investigation officers carry out their inspection.

The ground floor ceiling was bowing from the weight of debris that had fallen on to the first floor from the roof area. A number of oak beams on the ground floor were destroyed or damaged by the fire, and there was a hole in the ceiling measuring about eight feet by two feet where debris had fallen through to the ground floor from the roof and the first floor.