Fire service 'liaising with police' into circumstances surrounding death of retired employee discovered at Oldbury station

The former staff member, who has been named as Ian Revell, was discovered at Old Park Lane station in Oldbury in the early hours of Monday.

Mr Revell had worked as an instructor at the Oldbury station when he retired in January 2023 and had served for 26 years – at the time of his death he was working as a health and safety officer.

West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) lowered flags outside its buildings for 24 hours as a mark of respect.

A spokesman said Mr Revell's death was "not being treated as suspicious" and that staff would be "working closely" with West Midlands Police to establish the full circumstances.

The statement said: "All possible support will be offered to Mr Revell's loved ones and former colleagues, many of whom are still working here."

Meanwhile, the chief executive of WMFS has hit out at claims in a national newspaper that the service is "scandal hit".

Oliver Lee told a press conference he objected to a report in The Sun newspaper in relation to the death of its previous chief Wayne Brown, who was found dead at his home in January and the death of Mr Revell.

He said: "I don't accept that it's 'scandal-ridden' and nor will it be during my tenure here. There is no correlation between the tragedies.

"This organisation is a responsible, uniformed, emergency public service paid for by public money and every day it does its level best to protect the people of the West Midlands.

"We are hurting from the recent deaths, the one this week and recent ones which have occurred through natural causes, as well as the spouse of a serving employee, and our thoughts are with all those affected."