{"id":702247,"date":"2026-01-17T14:15:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T14:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/702247\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T14:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T14:15:22","slug":"cause-of-grade-ii-listed-building-blaze-in-birmingham-revealed-by-fire-investigators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/702247\/","title":{"rendered":"Cause of Grade II-listed building blaze in Birmingham revealed by fire investigators"},"content":{"rendered":"

The severe blaze broke out at the former HB Sale factory on Constitution Hill in Hockley\"The<\/p>\n

The fire broke out at the former HB Sale factory in Constitution Hill, Hockley(Image: Harry Leach)<\/p>\n

A huge blaze which broke out at a historic Grade ll-listed building in Birmingham<\/a> ‘started accidentally’, according to fire investigators.<\/p>\n

More than 50 firefighters battled the blaze which had broken on the fourth floor of the five-storey former HB Sale factory in Constitution Hill, Hockley<\/a>, shortly before 7.30am yesterday, January 16.<\/p>\n

Flames were seen spitting out of the iconic building as fire crews worked to bring the inferno under control.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>More than 50 firefighters tackle blaze in historic Birmingham Grade II-liste<\/a><\/strong> building<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

One person was taken to hospital with ‘minor injuries’ after they suffered smoke inhalation, paramedics said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The area around the building was cordoned off in all directions but the closed streets have since reopened.<\/p>\n

West Midlands Fire Service this morning revealed the fire was started “accidentally”.<\/p>\n

A fire service spokesperson said: “Our investigators believe this fire started accidentally.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A view of the fire from another high rise building facing towards the junction of Constitution Hill, Summer Lane and Hampton Street (Image: Kieran Hannon)<\/p>\n

Damping at the site was completed yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The fire service said it would continue to revisit the building overnight to make sure it was safe.<\/p>\n

Issuing an update on Friday, a fire service spokesperson said: “Damping down has been completed.<\/p>\n

“We expect to carry out several revisits throughout the afternoon and overnight.<\/p>\n

“A full, thorough search of the building has been undertaken and it has been confirmed that everyone has been accounted for.<\/p>\n

“National Grid colleagues have also been in attendance, working to isolate a nearby substation.”<\/p>\n

“This incident will be scaled down to three fire engines shortly.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The severe blaze broke out at the former HB Sale factory on Constitution Hill in Hockley The fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[10970,10969,12,16,15],"class_list":["post-702247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-hockley","tag-jewellery-quarter","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115910864123210213","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}