Warwickshire's Chief Fire Officer has reacted to the not guilty verdicts by condemning the decision to press criminal charges against three members of his brigade.
Graeme Smith - who claimed Adrian Ashley, Paul Simmons and Timothy Woodward had been ``treated like common criminals'' - is now calling for the Home Office and Ministry of Justice to investigate how and why the prosecution was allowed to proceed.
The fire chief, who was present in court during much of the six-week trial, said: "It is crystal clear that these cases should never have been brought to court in the first place.
"But today neither I nor any of my colleagues in the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service feel any sense of relief. Rather we feel a sense of sorrow and remembrance for the four brave firefighters who died at Atherstone-on-Stour in 2007."
Both Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Chief Fire Officers Association have serious concerns about the case. Mr Smith and both bodies will be writing to the Home Secretary and to the Justice Secretary to seek a formal investigation into the prosecution.
Voicing concern that such prosecutions may make fire commanders more risk averse, possibly impacting on the safety of the public, Mr Smith was also critical of "undue aggression" shown towards the firefighters charged with manslaughter during their time in police custody.
During two days in the custody of Warwickshire Police, Mr Simmons, Mr Ashley, and Mr Woodward had their belts and shoelaces taken away and were also held at a police station overnight between interviews.
Mr Smith said: "The police investigation into this fire took a wrong turn very early on.
"The police treated decent fire officers like common criminals. The court heard they were locked up in the cells overnight and even had their shoelaces taken away from them.
"It has taken almost five years and five million pounds of public money to construct a flimsy case against these three men and when it was presented in court it simply fell apart."
