West Midlands Fire Service and police forensics are investigating a severe flat fire above a row of shops on Redwood Road in the Yew Tree Estate of Walsall.

Four people were rescued but 2 were in a critical condition, including a child.

Police and Fire forensics officers were at the scene on Sunday 16 March afternoon.

Chief Fire Officer Simon Tuhill said ‘this was a significant fire in a block of flats above a shop.

'On their arrival my firefighters worked extremely hard in really challenging conditions and rescued 4 people from the block via a ladder.

'Two of these were in critical condition, including a child. Firefighters also assisted a further 4 people from the block.

'In total WMFS and WMAS treated 10 people for smoke inhalation and they were then taken to hospital.

'I want to pay tribute to all the WMFS staff who attended the incident.

'Every day they are willing to put their lives at risk to protect the people of the West Midlands, and this tragic incident is one example of this.

'Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the incident and all those affected.

'We will have specialist fire investigators at scene who will now work alongside police colleagues to determine the cause of the fire.’

ENDS