Man who died in Union Street flat fire named

Police have named the man who died in the fire at a Plymouth flat on New Year’s Day as George Michael Somers, 43.

George was residing in Plymouth at the time but was originally from the London area.

A number of people needed to be rescued from the fire on Union Street and Mr Somers was pronounced dead at the scene.

Emergency services were called to the property at around 2am on Thursday 1 January following reports of a major fire, leading to a mass evacuation including neighbouring flats, as the fire spread.

An emergency reception centre was set up to shelter 38 people who were evacuated.

Officers worked with the fire service to undertake a joint forensic investigation of the scene.

Police enquiries are ongoing to establish the cause of the fire, which is being treated as unexplained. 

Any witnesses to the fire, who have not already spoken to police, are asked to call 101 quoting reference EN/000046/15.