CRIME scene teams are ready to search the burnt out remains of the former Sportsman pub, Hereford, for clues as to what started one of the city's worst fires of recent years.

So far, fire crews have been unable to confirm if anyone was inside the old pub on Widemarsh Common, which was sealed off as too dangerous for anyone to live in after another fire there last weekend.

A series of 999 calls brought emergency services to the scene at 4am this morning (Sunday).

Fire crews arrived to see the site "shrouded in smoke".

Station officer Phil Major, who lead the firefighting operation, said that because the building was sealed off the "severe" blaze that built up inside had no way out.

"It had probably been burning for some time before the calls came in. When we arrived fire was just starting to break through the boarding," said SO Major.

Temperatures inside the burning pub reached such a peak that the interior effectively melted.

Unable to get rescue crews inside, firefighters worked to put as much water onto the scene as possible as flames burnt through the first and second floors to burst out of the roof.

By daybreak the blaze was under control, but the site was still smouldering at 10am.

The building itself is now said to be dangerously unstable.

Those residents - mainly Polish migrant workers - rescued from last week's fire, still had property stored inside that they were due to collect.

All of that property has been destroyed.

It will be some time before police and fire service investigators can get inside to trace the cause of the blaze.

At this stage the fire is being linked to an arson attack. The first crews to arrive found evidence that the building had been broken into.