Firefighters are calling for a change in safety laws to prevent a repeat of last year's disaster at a Sussex fireworks factory.

Two firefighters were killed in an explosion at Festival Fireworks UK last year.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) have written to MPs in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove urging them to back demands for tighter regulations on the way fireworks are stored and transported.

They want special rules to improve the safety of the metal containers in which fireworks are kept.

The current, unadapted containers have been described as acting like an oven in the event of a fire.

They want rules to require a weaker lid so the force of explosions is channelled upwards, rather than outwards.

A standard metal container is thought to be at the centre of the investigation into the fire at Festival Fireworks UK.

Jim Parrott, the South East region secretary of the FBU, told The Argus: "We would like to see the amount that is transported and stored in these containers reduced and see them specifically adapted for fireworks.

"The regulations are not working. Too many agencies are involved, none have overall control."

The FBU and the CFOA this week wrote to MPs in a letter sent jointly with the Local Government Association.

It highlights 12 other incidents involving containers, including an explosion at Big Box Storage in The Hyde, Bevendean, Brighton, in 2004.

The letter reads: "It is the view of the FBU that the regulations that cover the import, manufacture, transport and storage of fireworks are not working and are failing to protect the public and putting emergency service workers at needless risk."

Lewes MP Norman Baker said: "I very much welcome the FBU drawing attention to what they regard as deficiencies in the law.

"It's quite right we should review legislation as a consequence of this fire.

"I hope when the police report is finally published early in the New Year it will identify anything that needs addressing."

Fire support officer Brian Wembridge, 63, and retained firefighter Geoff Wicker, 49, were killed by explosions while trying to tackle a huge blaze at the Festival Fireworks UK factory at Marlie Farm, Shortgate, on December 3 last year.

In October this year Lewes District Council approved an application by the firm to start selling fireworks again at the factory.

Although the application satisfied planning requirements, one councillor, Liberal Democrat Ian Eiloart, admitted: "The authorities have not managed to control the site in a safe manner."

The Health and Safety Executive had already lifted its own ban on the storage of fireworks at the site.