A SWINDON firefighter is relieved after discovering his friends were not involved in Wednesday morning's fatal fire in Stevenage.

The Advertiser reported that Antony Bholah, 32, trained with the Hertfordshire Fire And Rescue Service and then worked as a firefighter in nearby St Albans.

He was also posted temporarily to Stevenage.

Yesterday the dead firefighters were named as Michael Miller, 26, and Jeff Wornham, 28.

The fire took hold on the 14th floor of a 17-storey block of flats.

Mr Bholah who lives in Wroughton and works at Stratton fire station said: "Obviously I'm relieved that it's not anyone I know.

"It's just very unfortunate that this has happened.

"I'd spoken to a couple of people from St Albans on the phone and they had said it was unlikely to be anyone I knew

"But I was obviously concerned."

A total of three people died in the fire and seven others were taken to hospital.

Investigators were yesterday searching the flats for the cause of the fire.