Four firefighters died in a 2007 Warwickshire blaze because of a "catalogue of failings" by the county's fire service, a report yesterday found.

A Fire Brigades Union (FBU) fatal accident investigation examined the deaths of Ian Reid, John Averis, Ashley Stephens and Darren Yates-Badley, who attended a fire in a vegetable packing plant on Atherstone Industrial Estate on November 2 2007.

Around 100 firefighters were sent to fight the suspected arson attack in Atherstone-on-Stour.

The four men had been sent in with breathing apparatus when no one was inside the building - Mr Reid was rescued but died later in hospital and the other three firefighters were found dead inside.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: "The deaths of these four brave men were caused by a catalogue of systemic failings at Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service.

"The fire killed more firefighters than any other since the 1970s.

"Over the last decade, twice as many firefighters lost their lives in fires as in the previous 10 years and it's clear that fire and rescue services and government are not learning lessons from these deaths.

"It is appalling that firefighters are in some cases being killed in almost identical circumstances to those in which others have died. This is a terrible failing by those making key strategic decisions within the fire service and by central government."

The FBU report highlighted severe problems with the fire service run by Warwickshire County Council including risk assessment and planning, quality of information available to the incident commander, the use of breathing apparatus and training, particularly for "retained" or part-time firefighters.

Mr Wrack added: "Firefighters and bereaved families have been asking questions for a number of years about why firefighters are being killed at incidents which the service should have planned to deal with."

Last January Warwickshire County Council was fined £30,000 for failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees.

The FBU is working with health and safety specialists to review firefighter safety and fatal incidents.