Coventry fire: Massive blaze rips through abandoned Henley College building

A massive fire has ripped through an abandoned college building in this evening. West Midlands Fire Service said 12 of its crews are in attendance on Henley Road after a broke out at a disused Henley College building.

The service added: "Please avoid the area, where possible... Please close your doors and windows if you live or work nearby and avoid the area where possible." A video of the fire uploaded to social media shows huge plumes of black smoke rising from the building. The video appeared to show the fire had torn through the roof of the building.

Another clip of the blaze showed a firefighter on a pump ladder standing above the blaze as it continued to rip through the building. The 17-second-long video did not show where the fire originated in the building but did reveal the roof had sustained significant damage.

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affiliate said firefighters had been present at the building earlier this month. The West Midlands Fire Service said at the time there was no 999 emergency and that local crews had been at the college for a training exercise.

The fire comes on what was the hottest day of the year so far in the UK. The said the highest temperature recorded today was 24.9C in Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire.

The previous hottest temperature this year was 24.5C recorded in St James’s Park, London, on Monday – which peaked at 24.7C on Tuesday.

The Met Office said temperatures could hit 27C or 28C on Wednesday in southern England and the Midlands. The warm could also exceed the record for the highest April temperature in Wales – which is 26.2C.

Meteorologist Craig Snell said the most likely places to see the highest temperatures on Wednesday were “in a line from London over towards the West Country and into the Midlands”.

The meteorologist told the PA news agency: “The central southern parts of the UK are probably going to be where the highest temperatures will be tomorrow.”

Mr Snell said Thursday would be “the peak of the heat”. He added: “We are likely to see 28C or 29C. And again, it’s going to be a corridor from the west of London over towards Bristol which will probably be the most likely places to see the highest temperatures.”

The meteorologist said the high temperatures on Thursday would result in one of the “warmest starts to May on record”.