Dedicated Ormskirk fire-fighters were among the crews fighting a tragic blaze in which a 14-year-old student died.



Regulars from Ormskirk fire station were joined by their retained colleagues to fight the blaze at a barn off Chorley Road in which Louis Simpson,14, perished; Police officially named the tragic teen - a pupil at the private Merchant Taylors school in Crosby - on Tuesday.

Emergency services were called around 3pm on Sunday to Fairhurst Hall after a fire at a barn; following the fire, Louis, from Parbold, was reported missing.
After an extensive search of the area a body was recovered from the barn on Monday night; his family are being supported by specially trained officers.

Enquiries are continuing to establish what caused the fire, however at this stage there do not appear to be any suspicious circumstances - a post mortem examination will be carried out to try to establish the cause of death and a file will be passed to the coroner in due course.

In a tribute, Louis' parents said: “It is with deep regret and heartbreak that we can confirm the tragic loss of our beautiful, beautiful boy Louis James Simpson.
"We are all truly devastated but want to thank our amazing family and friends for their on-going love and support. We ask that our privacy is respected at this extremely difficult time”.





QLocal’s Roger Blaxall took these exclusive photos this morning as a team of detectives and senior fire officers continued to piece together details of the blaze.







Floral tributes to Louis were moved from near The Common to outside the track entrance to the barn. Prominent was a white football shirt - nearby lay bags of recovered items from the blaze.



One upshot of the tragedy has been the closure of the main road through Hilldale that's been ‘fooling' sat. navs., with many drivers – including foreign lorry drivers – consequently lost.

*QLocal’s thanks to Marc Melander for the additional photo taken on Sunday from the canal bank of fire-fighters at the blaze.

And for a feature on the brilliant work of Ormskirk's retained fire-fighters, click here: http://ormskirk.qlocal.co.uk/ormskir..._-55015903.htm