The massive fire at HWP that gutted the company’s car and bike showroom and body shop last August has been ruled “accidental”.Coroner Archibald Warner made the ruling after a review of the file submitted by the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service following the investigation into the cause of the blaze at HWP, on St John’s Road, Pembroke on August 8, last year.When contacted by The Royal Gazette, Johnathan Brewin, CEO of HWP reserved comment until after he has read the entire report by the fire service.“I can confirm that we have yet to receive the fire report,” said Mr Brewin. “This has been requested and once we have had the opportunity to review it we shall be in a better position to respond.”The brief statement on the ruling was issued yesterday by Coroner’s Officer Sergeant Lyndon Raynor, who said: “The Coroner is satisfied that the fire was accidental.”Mr Raynor also said: “Pursuant to section 9 of the Coroner’s Act, 1938 and as read with section 23 of the said Act, the Coroner, has dispensed with the need to hold an inquest into the said fire.”Section 23 of the act applies “whenever any loss of life or serious injury to any person, or any destruction of or material injury to property, is occasioned by fire, or any fire gives rise to suspicion of arson, a Coroner shall have jurisdiction to inquire into the cause and circumstances of such fire.”The legislation also carries provisions for “proceedings on inquests”.The fire destroyed HWP’s main building and reduced the company’s operational capacity to 50 percent. HWP’s spray centre, car and bike showroom and administration officers were also gutted in the blaze that claimed half of the 75,000-square foot site.Shortly after the blaze the company made 21 staff redundant. In January, this newspaper reported “the company had bounced back well and is striving to push ahead with some bold new plans for the future.At that time, Mr Brewin said: “After the catastrophic events of August 8 clearly we were challenged with a whole range of issues minus 50 percent of our operating capacity with the facility, showrooms, spray centre, body shop, head offices, IT and HR functions and the boardroom all being destroyed.“Since that time we have worked very hard and actively to put together a head office here, including a finance function.”Now that the ruling has been made he said the company will examine the full report from the fire service before any further comments are made.