West Midlands

When the largest army storage warehouse in Europe at COD Donnington went up in flames in 1983, ash containing asbestos was scattered for miles around.

Now, decades later, the fire has claimed its first victim – from mesothelioma – a disease caused by asbestos.

Inside Out investigates whether there could be more cases.

As if it was snowing

Ellen Paddock was just 31-years-old when she died. 

Sharon Bush: played in the asbestos dust

As a seven year old she had played in the ash with her sister Sharon Bush.

Sharon reminders it well: 

"All this stuff just started dropping out of the sky as if it was snowing. 

"It just kept coming down and coming down.  We were literally just having fun in it, playing in it, throwing it about. 

"It was like winter had come and it was funny. But it’s not that funny now when you look back.  The stuff killed my sister."

So what about the wider public? Could more people have been put at risk?

Fears played down

The ash scattered over a 15 sq mile area, over the homes of thousands of people.

The army had initially denied the ash contained asbestos. As a result it lay in the streets for five days before the alarm was raised and a major clean up operation began.

At the time fears were played down and the public was told there had been just a small amount of white asbestos in the building's roof.

White asbestos is known to be the least dangerous kind.

But there is evidence that there could have been more in the building.

Tests also found traces of brown amosite asbestos, which is known to pose a much greater threat.

It was also common in buildings of that era.

"Asbestos everywhere"

Fireman Peter Stubley had worked in the building:

Peter Stubley: horrendous amount of asbestos

"The amount of asbestos in there was horrendous. Part of our job in the fire service was to go out on fire prevention. 

"While they were cutting these heating systems out, all of a sudden these things would drop on the floor and you’d get asbestos everywhere. 

"I used to think wow this is terrible. My nose used to get filled up with it and everything." 

Dr Keith Prowse says further deaths can't be ruled out. But even if there was brown asbestos present, the risk to individuals is low:

"We can't say for sure because we don't know what exposure people had. 

"But if cases are going to occur it is going to be mainly over the course of the next 10 to 15 years. 

"Basically if you inhale a small number of asbestos fibres you're at some risk of mesothelioma. 

"But the more you breathe in the more the risk."

Now the BBC can also reveal that the MoD was explicitly warned the building wasn’t fire-safe.

An internal inquiry into the incident shows that fire safety advisors knew that a small fire would be spread quickly, but improved fire prevention measures were ruled out on grounds of cost.

Instead the MoD opted for a "calculated risk".

Even after the 1983 fire only some of the fire safety recommendations were followed.

Then five years later yet another, near identical fire broke out at Donnington. 

Sharon Bush says she still worries about the public risk:

"It is just the scariest thought that my sister died of this horrible disease that ate away at her. 

"How many other people out there who were playing in it have got this same disease and don’t know."

The MoD has told the BBC that it has learned lessons from this tragic accident and it says its sympathies remain with the family and friends of Ellen Paddock.

It says it takes the health and safety of its staff and neighbours very seriously and considerable work has been put in to ensure that the risk of such an accident happening again is minimised.