Details of fatal Stoke-on-Trent fire published before family told

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue apologised for letting down the victim's family

A fire service has apologised for publicising the cause of a fatal fire before telling the victim's family.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue said it disclosed the cause of the house fire in Stoke-on-Trent earlier in January due to "a lack of training".

A man in his 60s died after a fire caused by smoking materials broke out at his Hartshill home on 9 January.

The fire service acknowledged it had "let the family down" and apologised for causing further distress.

Details of the fire were published on its website and sent to the media before the bereaved had been informed.

"We let the family down due to a lack of training which resulted in the family not being given the details of the cause of the incident prior to us making the information public," Dermot Hogan, from the fire service, said.

"I would like to say sorry for their loss and for the additional distress and upset we have caused during a very difficult time.

"We will ensure the appropriate training is in place to prevent this from happening again in the future."

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