SOUTHWARK - 1930s

"POWERFUL JETS OF WATER discharged from many hoses were played on a big fire in an oils and colours warehouse at Southwark, London, from extended ladders and other vantage points. Often there is no building opposite from which water can be directed into a blaze, and then the use of extended ladders is all-important." - Mike's Engineering Wonders

SYDNEY STREET - 1911

RIOTS - 2011

Photo: BBC

UPDATED OCTOBER 2011

In early August 2011, the London Fire Brigade contended with rioting that started in Tottenham and spread across the city.

"Firefighters are either fighting or trying to get to a number of fires across the capital," the fire brigade said Aug. 8. "Fires involve commercial and residential buildings, cars and rubbish bins."

Violence was reported in Hackney, Lewisham, Peckham, Croydon, Brixton, Enfield Town, Walthamstow, Newham and Southwark in the aftermath of a police shooting.

Fire crews "were threatened as they tried to put out fires," the Press Association reported.

Rioters damaged fire engines from Brixton, West Norwood and Edmonton, according to the fire brigade.

Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to restore order and recalled Parliament in response to "sickening scenes" in London and other cities, the BBC said.

However, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone attributed the violence to government economic policy and spending reductions:

"As when Margaret Thatcher imposed such policies during her recessions this creates the threat of people losing control, acting in completely unacceptable ways that threaten everyone, and culminating in events of the type we saw in Tottenham."

Livingstone was quoted by the Socialist newspaper, The Morning Star.

MAJOR FIRES IN LONDON
Night of Aug. 8-9

Barking and Dagenham
1 X Six Pump Fire @ 23:12

Croydon
1 X Four Pump Fire @ 20:35
1 X Ten Pump Fire @ 20:54 (Reeves Corner)
[SITUATION REPORT @ 0700: "Shop of 2 floors 30 metres by 30 metres, 100 percent alight. All persons not yet accounted for. Crews unable to make search due to intensity of fire. Breathing apparatus, 3 jets in use"]
1 X Four Pump Fire @ 23:44
1 X Six Pump Fire @ 04:13

Ealing
1 X Six Pump Fire @ 23:18

Enfield
1 X Eleven Pump Fire @ 23:49
[SITUATION REPORT @ 0700: "Single storey warehouse, 150 metres by 75 metres, 100 percent alight. 2 jets, 5 ground monitors, 2 aerial monitors in use, steady progress being made. "]

Greenwich
1 X Four Pump Fire @ 22:13
1 X Four Pump Fire @ 00:04

Merton
1 X Four Pump Fire @ 22:12

Southwark
1 X Four Pump Fire @ 03:07

Wandsworth
1 X Eight Pump Fire @ 00:07

INJURED BLITZ FIREMEN

Photo from archives of Daily Mirror showing London firefighters being treated at Westminster Hospital during the Blitz. The photo is dated March 1, 1941. Members of the fire service suffered eye injuries caused by embers and debris.

KEW GARDENS - 1913

In 1913, the Tea House at Kew Gardens in London was set alight by suffragettes Olive Wharry and Lilian Lenton. The suffragettes were responsible for a series of blazes across London meant to protest government policy.

GARDINER'S CORNER - 1972

Clothing store Gardiner gave its name to the junction Gardiner's Corner, which brought together the main thoroughfares of East London. In 1972, fire gutted the century-old building and caused the clock tower to collapse. The business had closed the year before the fire.

BATTLE OF STEPNEY - 1911

The "Battle of Stepney" raged on Sidney Street, East London, on Jan. 2, 1911, with bullets flying and flames. 

A gunfight and fire led to the death of two "anarchists" suspected in the Houndsditch Murders of three police officers.

The siege also claimed the life of a London fireman - Superintendent Charles Pearson - who sustained injuries when a wall collapsed. He died several months later.

The incident sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill, pictured above.