SOHO CLUB - 1980

Photos: Soho Fire Station, London Fire Brigade

EDITOR'S NOTE: In early 2012, a reader of the London Fire Journal requested assistance in locating the wife and child of a relative who was killed in this tragedy. The reader, from Panama, had lost touch with the relative's wife three decades ago. On April 14, 2012, the Fire Journal received information that helped bring the case to a close. We are pleased to report it appears to be a very happy ending!

By Vinny Del Giudice
London Fire Journal 

On Aug. 15, 1980, a patron ejected from a Soho club returned with a can of gasoline, lit a match and killed 37 people attending a farewell party - London's deadliest fire since the Blitz at that time.

"There was very little showing at the front; at the rear, the building was an inferno," according to the website of the Soho fire station. "The entire building and staircases were engulfed in seconds. No one inside stood a chance."

The initial call came into the London Fire Brigade at about 3:30 a.m., and proved to be a "bad address" - a location off the Soho station's fireground.

Firefighters were then directed to the club on Denmark Place, which was frequented by South Americans and Spaniards, many of whom were illegal immigrants.

Euston station leading fireman David Pare recalled: "You could hear people screaming but we couldn't see any flames."


Firefighters assigned to the Green Watch extinguished the fire; Red Watch crews were responsible for recovery of the bodies. The club wasn't licensed.

"We only realized what really happened when we got the fire out and managed to get inside," said a fire brigade spokesman quoted by United Press International.

Initially, London police suspected the fire may have been tied to a dispute between drug gangs or, in a strange twist, feuding hot dog vendors as hot dog carts were stored in a room in the club.

Instead they charged John Thompson, 42, described as a petty thief and drug addict.

After arguing with a barman, Thompson purchased a gallon of gasoline at service station, poured the fuel through a letter slot at the club and set it alight.

He was sentenced to life in prison in May 1981 and died of lung cancer on the 27th anniversary of the blaze.

Colombian Elizabeth Mercado, 30, the guest of honor, jumped from a second story window along with Eduardo Trujillo, 28, also from Colombia.

"Everywhere there was the smell of petrol and very black smoke - plastic dripping from the ceiling of the club," said Trujillo, quoted by the Associated Press.

Many of the dead were found still seated at tables; other tried to flee.

"The fire spread too fast for them," said Ray Baldwin, a divisional fire officer.

Locked doors blocked escape routes from the venue, which went by the names "Rodos" and "Victor Gonzales."

Leading firefighter Pare recalled:

"We came up against a music shop where there was a man in a desperate state. He was trying to break the security grills on the shop window to get out."

"The man was hysterical. He kept screaming 'there are hundreds dead up there'."

"In front of us was the fire escape to the club and we could immediately see every window had been blown out."

"There was one body on the staircase, one on the landing and one as you went into the building."

"On the first floor there was a kitchenette area and that is where the man, who we had helped out of the music room window, had escaped.

"He had had to climb over bodies three deep to escape."

Alan Freeman, a brigade photographer, said:

 "As you walked up the stairs, you went into one of the rooms and it was as if the bodies were dominoes that had been pushed over.

"It was like they had been frozen in the same position they were in before the fire started."

LIST OF DEAD - From the Independent in 2015

AGUIRE Sylvia
BARRIOS Alvaro
BOUGH Pamela
BULATI Beiddredin
CAMPBELL Archibald
CARROLL Leonard
COWARD Diana
DCEDARAN Clancy
DICK Maria
DOLAN Peter Alan
FIORILO Paul
FRANCO Jose
GOREY Carol
GUMIEL Maria
GUMIEL Theresa
HENAGHAN Denise
ISHERWOOD Christina
LONDONO Luz Mary
McDERMOT Avril
McILVANEY Diana
MUNOZ Gloria
MURRAY Anita
NAVARO Antonio
NORTON Bridget
ORTEGON-GARCES Julian
PUTAHU Segg
RAMSEY William
REID Alexander
SAGASTA-JULDAIN Juan Antonio
SMITH Edgar
SOTO Carlos Alberto
STIRTON Robert
TAYLOR-HARDING Eustace Ralph
VARGAS Alejandro
VARGAS Hernan
VARGAS-CORRALES Beatrice
YULE Frederick

PECKHAM - 2009

Photo: Sky News

On Nov. 26, 2009, flames swept a construction site, jumped a street and ignited an apartment block and a pub at Caribrooke Gardens, Peckham.

"At the height of the blaze there were 30 fire engines and over 150 firefighters tackling the fire," according to a London Fire Brigade press release. "Around 310 people were evacuated from their homes and moved to emergency accommodation."

No serious injuries were reported at the fire at Sumner Road and Rosemary Road.

"The ferocity of the fire was a challenge when we first arrived," said Steve Turek, assistant fire commissioner, quoted by the Associated Press. "All the buildings were simultaneously burning."

Paul McKenzie, owner of the gutted Golden Lion pub, told the BBC: "I opened the fire door into the club room and it was just hot. The glass in the windows were cracked and I thought, 'You know what, this not somewhere you want to be.'"

DOCKS - 1864

Image: Illustrated London News
"In December 1864, a fire destroyed several buildings in the St Saviour's Dock at Dockhead, Bermondsey. The engraving is notable for its depiction of the London Fire Engine Establishment's floating fire engine in action," according to Port Cities London web site.

MATCHBOX

Photo: The Matchbox Club
Model of London Fire Brigade horse drawn engine

DUNKIRK - 1940

Fireboat Massey Shaw at sea

At the start of World War II, the London fireboat Massey Shaw performed heroically as a member of the fleet of "Little Ships" that evacuated British soliders from Dunkirk in France.

Navy sailors and London firemen worked side by side to rescue members of the British Expeditionary Force defeated by the German Army.

According to the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships:

"The fires of Dunkirk gave them enough light to work by and the thick blanket of smoke provided some cover from air attack. But the shelling from German guns was relentless. The two Naval officers set a splendid example of calm and the beach party rowed ashore, fixing a line to maintain contact with the fire-float. After four or five journeys, the Massey Shaw was full once more with troops pressed together in the cabin and standing shoulder-to-shoulder on deck. Her load of nearly l00 men was transferred to a troopship at anchor in the channel and she returned to be re-loaded.

"After some engine trouble that the naval stokers who were unused to the Massey Shaw's machinery, eventually managed to overcome, stretcher cases began to arrive and these were hard to handle and transfer to the troopship. They made about five journeys from the beach to a paddle steamer and it was estimated that they embarked 500 men in this way. As dawn broke, the troopship was full and left for England. Massey Shaw returned to the beach and started loading again. At this point, on a falling tide, they began to bump on the sands and were in danger of damaging their propellers but, with their engines throbbing at full power, they just managed to get back into deep water. At 0330 they were the last boat to leave that part of the beach. Halfway across the channel, the Naval skipper began to have doubts about the compass, but then, to his relief, came across a drifter towing two small boats packed with troops. They followed them into Ramsgate where they arrived at 0800 on Sunday 2nd June, landing 30 or 40 more soldiers.

"The Massey Shaw returned to Dunkirk again the next evening with a Fire Service crew. This time they went to the jetty of Dunkirk harbour. It was difficult for soldiers to board her from the towering jetty and she came away empty. After returning to Ramsgate, she was ordered back to London. Off Margate, the Emile Deschamps, a French ship which had sailed to England from Dunkirk laden with troops the previous night, was passing her at a distance of 200 yards when it struck a mine and sank almost immediately. The Massey Shaw picked up 40 men, all severely injured and took them back to Ramsgate. Early on Wednesday 5th, she finally returned to London and as she came up the river she was cheered as she passed each fire station."

HOLLAND PARK TUBE - 1958

Photo: London Transport

1958 fire damage

On July 28, 1958, a fire broke out aboard a Central line underground train carriage between Shepherd's Bush and Holland Park station in west London, claiming the life of one person and injuring many others.

Electrical arcing produced a torch-like flame, which blistered and melted the paint.

"A great volume of dense smoke and acrid fumes was produced which filled the train and the tunnel," according to the official inquiry.

"The train stopped 23 yards short of Holland Park station,"  the inquiry said. "The driver promptly operated the tunnel telephone wires which cut off the traction current and stopped the arcing."

 "Nearly all the passengers suffered from the effects of the smoke and fumes, and 48 of them and three railway servants were sent to hospital for treatment," the inquiry said.

A BBC report said the train carriages were about 20 years old.

A similar incident occurred Aug. 12, 1960 on a train between Redbridge and Gants Hill, without fatalities.

BLITZ DUTY

Photo: Historical Footsteps Tours of London

Script of BBC Broadcast from Sept. 7, 1940

The German air force has unleashed a wave of heavy bombing raids on London, killing hundreds of civilians and injuring many more.

The Ministry of Home Security said the scale of the attacks was the largest the Germans had yet attempted.

"Our defences have actively engaged the enemy at all points," said a communiqué issued this evening.

"The civil defence services are responding admirably to all calls that are being made upon them."

The first raids came towards the end of the afternoon, and were concentrated on the densely populated East End, along the river by London's docks.

About 300 bombers attacked the city for over an hour and a half. The entire docklands area seemed to be ablaze as hundreds of fires lit up the sky.

Once darkness fell, the fires could be seen more than 10 miles away, and it is believed that the light guided a second wave of German bombers which began coming over at about 2030 BST (1930 GMT).

The night bombing lasted over eight hours, shaking the city with the deafening noise of hundreds of bombs falling so close together there was hardly a pause between them.

One bomb exploded on a crowded air raid shelter in an East London district.

In what was described as "a million to one chance", the bomb fell directly on the 3ft (90cm) by 1ft (30cm) ventilation shaft - the only vulnerable place in a strongly-protected underground shelter which could accommodate over 1,000 people.

About 14 people are believed to have been killed and 40 injured, including children.

Civil defence workers worked through the night, often in the face of heavy bombing, to take people out of the range of fire and find them temporary shelter and food.

An official paid tribute to staff at one London hospital which was hit, saying, "They showed marvellous bravery, keeping on until bomb detonations and gunfire made it absolutely impossible."

In the air, a series of ferocious dogfights developed as the German aircraft flew up the Thames Estuary.

The Air Ministry says at least 15 enemy aircraft crashed into the estuary, and in all, the Ministry said, 88 German aircraft were shot down, against 22 RAF planes lost.

TELEPRINTER

Photos: delta23lfb via Flickr
Images of a London fire station teleprinter and a message calling additional fire crews - with "BA" or breathing appartus - to a major incident at King George V Dock in East London on Dec. 29, 1974. The "royal dock" was built in 1912 and closed in the 1980s. Today, it's part of "The Docklands."

OXFORD STREET

Photo: Soho Fire Station web site

Aerial ladders in operation at 10-pump fire on Oxford Street, London.

WHAT A NIGHT

Members of Auxiliary Fire Service catch a nap on a "heavy" pump during the Blitz.

LONDON HOSPITAL - 1940

The German air raids of 1940 damaged London Hospital, Whitechapel.

BOAC 712 - 1968

Barbara Jane Harrison, GC

Photos:  UK accident investigation, Wikipedia

On April 8, 1968, the No. 2 jet engine of BOAC Flight 712 snapped from the wing after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport and the crippled Boeing 707 returned to the airfield in a fiery and tragic emergency landing.

Flames and fumes killed five people, including flight attendant Jane Harrison, who was trying to rescue a disabled passenger. Harrison, 22, was posthumously awarded the George Cross for her heroism.

Wikipedia said: "The cabin crew started the evacuation, even before the aircraft had come to a halt ... Harrison was last seen preparing to jump, but she turned back and disappeared into the passenger cabin, in an attempt to save the remaining four passengers."

The blazing four-engine 707 had been bound for Australia and was laden with fuel.

"The first two fire engines to arrive were unable to do much, as they stopped too far from the aircraft and their design prevented their moving once they began making foam," according to Wikipedia.

"Paint on the coupling threads of nearby fire hydrants prevented hoses from being attached," Wikipedia said. "A backup foam water tender drove in closer and discharged its foam effectively, but the fire had already gained hold by then."

CAMBERWELL - 2009

Photos: Paul Wood (top), on Daily Mirror web site. BBC web site (lower)

On July 3, 2009, fire killed six people in a high-rise apartment building in Camberwell, South London.

Firefighters rescued 40 others as flames engulfed the upper levels of the 12-story Lakanal House. The dead had taken refuge in a bathroom on the 11th floor.

``We worked as fast as we could and rescued many people from the block,'' London Fire Commissioner Rob Dobson said. ``Sadly, and to the huge regret of the crews involved we simply could not reach everyone in time.''

The worst of the disaster was above the reach of the fire brigade's tallest ladders, which extend for roughly 100 feet.

Dobson said the fire brigade arrived ``within minutes of being called'' and that ``crews worked under very difficult and hazardous circumstances to reach people trapped in the building as soon as they were able to.''

About 100 firefighters - staffing 18 pumps, as well as six rescue units and two aerial ladder platforms - were assigned to the fire. Members of the London Ambulance Service and the Metropolitan Police were also on the scene assisting. The incident occurred on the territory of the Peckham Fire Station, E37.

Assistant Commissioner Nick Collins, quoted by the Evening Standard, said: ``Some of the firefighters went back in three or four times. They were working at their very limits. We are extremely proud of them.''

WORSLEY HOTEL - 1974

Photo: London Fire Brigade, Gordon Honeycombe web site

Photo of London firefighter Petit bottom left

On Dec. 13, 1974, an arson fire swept the Worsley Hotel in the Maida Vale section of London, killing seven people - including a probationary firefighter named Hamish ``Harry'' Petit.

Three other firefighters were injured.

The story of the Worsley Hotel fire was recounted by journalist Gordon Honeycombe in the book ``Red Watch'' and by former London officer Neil Wallington in the book "Fireman! A personal account."

The hotel's kitchen porter, Edward Mansfield, was convicted of setting the fire.

Here's Wikipedia's account of the blaze:

The first of several 999 calls were made to the London Fire Brigade at 03:32 and received by the local fire station, A21, Paddington who were ordered to the scene along with neighbouring A22, Manchester Square and G26 Belsize, bringing the first attendance of 4 pumping appliances – 2 carrying the heavy but stable 50 foot (15m) wheeled escape ladders, a 100 ft (30m) turntable ladder (aerial) and an emergency tender (for the breathing apparatus (BA) sets carried, the wearing of which was then still a specialist skill).

On arrival, a chaotic scene greeted the senior officer, a serious fire in progress and numerous persons requiring rescue.

A priority message was made to control and a “Make pumps 8” message was sent (requesting a further 4 pumping appliances in addition to the original 4) within minutes of first arriving, whilst rescues (the priority) were being affected from both the front and rear of the building.

Further reinforcements were requested, first to 15 pumps, and then 20, and finally 30 with a further 2 turntable ladders requested.

During the next hour, the building structure began to deteriorate as floors and roof structures became affected by fire.

This was particularly apparent in house numbers 13, 15, and 17, the worst affected.

Many of the internal stairways were stone and when heated by the fire and then suddenly cooled by water collapsed making internal movement through the building awkward and potentially hazardous.

As further crews arrived along with increasingly senior officers to direct operations and persons were accounted for, the operation moved from rescue to the fighting of the fire.

Crews took hoses through the doors from the street and off ladders through the windows.

One of these fire fighting crews made up of 3 men and a Station Officer, entered a second floor room to search out the seat of the fire.

Whilst in the room, several floors above weakened by the extra load of the partially collapsed roof came down on the crew, the devastation seemingly concentrated on that one room.

The release of the trapped men became the priority, with what proved to be a difficult and protracted rescue operation.

One by one, 3 men were released (2 with serious burns and 1 with a serious back injury) before the body of the 4th man was found, who was declared dead at the scene.

BREAD STREET - 1899

Photo: London Stereoscopic Co.
Horse-drawn pumps supplying water from hydrant at fire on Bread Street in the City of London in 1899.

CHANCERY LANE - 2009

On March 18, 2009, a 15-pump fire broke out at Breams Buildings on Chancery Lane in central London. Vicki Clarke, who works in an office in New Street Square, captured this image posted on the BBC web site. Chancery Lane derives its name from the historic High Court of Chancery. 

INCIDENT REPORT
15.36
A27 CLERKENWELL
15 PUMP FIRE, CYLINDERS INVOLVED
44766091
ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION TRIBUNAL SERVICE, CHANCERY LANE, EC4
Office block of 5 floors and mansard roof. 50 metres by 10 metres, 50 per cent of 4th floor and 75 per cent of mansard roof alight. 3 jets 2 aerial monitors, dry riser and breathing apparatus in use.1 ground monitor supplying protective water curtain to adjacent building. 3 by 15 kilogramme propane cylinders involved. Cylinder procedure implemented. 2 adjacent buildings evacuated from 6th floor and above. Extensive salvage operations being undertaken from 4th floor to ground level.

FIRE STRIKE - 1977

"You're lucky - Working to Rule simply means putting the fire out ...''

Photo and cartoons: Daily Mail, Daily Mirror
U.K. firefighters staged a nationwide strike in November 1977. The BBC said they settled for a 10% pay increase, taking an average salary to just over £4,000. The military staffed civil defense fire engines during the strike.

BALHAM TUBE - 1940

On Oct. 15, 1940, a German air raid killed 111 people at Balham Underground station on the Northern line. 

CHISWICK WORKS - 1941

A special firefighting squad protected London Transport Chiswick Works during World War II. The plant - converted to defense work and operated by London Aircraft Production - was targeted by German bombers, including an incendiary raid on Oct. 10, 1940, according to London Transport. The photos show drilling on March 20, 1941.

CLAPHAM DEPOT - 1941

German bombers damaged the tram depot at Clapham on April 19, 1941, according to London Transport.

CALEDONIA - 1980

Photos: River Clyde web site; Soho Fire Station web site
On April 27, 1980, a 15-pump fire destroyed the retired Paddle Steamer Caledonia, moored on the Thames. A flashover injured five firefighters, according to the Soho Fire Station web site. Renamed Old Caledonia, the vessel was serving as a floating pub at the Embankment. She was built in 1934.

AFS WOMEN HONORED

Photo: Wharf.co.uk

In 2008, the former Millwall Fire Station was converted into an apartment block named for Violet Pengelly and Joan Bartlett, members of the London Auxiliary Fire Service killed during World War II.

According to the web site Wharf.co.uk: ``The young pair were among those who lost their lives during a bomb attack at the height of the blitz.

``Violet, 19, and Joan, 18, were among the first women to sign up to the Auxiliary Fire Service in 1938, and were based at a sub-station in the Saunders Ness Road School on the Isle of Dogs when World War II broke out a year later.

``The two were killed – along with 24 other emergency workers – when the school suffered a direct hit from a high-explosive bomb on the night of September 18, 1940.''

The new residences are named Bartlett Mews and Pengelly Apartments.

HEAVY PUMPS

Photo: Life magazine

Auxiliary fire service heavy pumps in September 1940.

TRAILER PUMPS

Photos: Life magazine, LFB web site

During World War II, the National Fire Service operated trailer pumps to augment its fleet of fire engines. In London, the fire service hired 2,000 Austin taxis to tow the pumps. Depending upon the model, these appliances could pump from 120-gallons per minute to 900-gallons per minute, according to Neil Wallington's book ``Firemen at War.''

FIVE COVER - 1865

Image: LFB web site

In 1865, the London Fire Engine Establishment - predecessor to the London Fire Brigade - operated 17 stations.

"MEOW 999"

Photo: Euston Fire Station web site

Firefighters in central London go to the aid of "Pancake" the cat, stranded atop a chimney, according to the web site of the Euston Fire Station. www.eustonfirestation.com/

RESTING AT FIRE

The painting "Resting at Fire" - oil on canvas by Reginald Mills, 1940 - depicts firemen during the Blitz, according to the London Fire Brigade web site.

TELEGRAPH

Photos: LFB web site
Fire stations in 1889 and watch room telegraph

In the 19th Century, Eyre Massey Shaw - the first chief officer of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade - linked London's fire stations by telegraph.

In his 1867 book ``Fighting the Flames,'' author R. M. Ballantyne explained messages were relayed through a central office in an effort to improve response times and maintain adequate fire cover in each of the brigade's districts.

``When a fire occurs in any part of London ... the fire station nearest to it at once sends out its engines and men, and telegraphs to the head or centre station at Watling Street,'' Ballantyne wrote. (Actual alarms of fire were turned in by neighborhood runners paid a shilling per shout from the station purse.)

``From Watling Street the news is telegraphed to the foremen's stations, whence it is transmitted to the stations of their respective districts, so that in a few minutes after the breaking out of a fire the fact is known to the firemen all over London,'' according to Ballantyne's book.

POST OFFICE - 1912

On Aug. 24, 1912, a fire broke out in the telegraph equipment at the General Post Office at St. Martin's le Grand. According to The New York Times: ``The large force of firemen, who were quickly on the scene, had considerable difficulty in getting at the seat of fire, which was in a compartment containing wires between the instrument gallery and the floor below."

CENTRAL TELEGRAPH - 1916

During World War I, the Central Telegraph Office in London was set ablaze during a German air raid. The attackers were flying Gotha bombers.

GREAT MARLBOROUGH - 1970

Photo: Soho Fire Station web site
In 1970, fire swept the building that once served as the Great Marlborough Street fire station, according to the web site of the Soho Fire Station. It opened in 1887 and closed about 1920.

THE GREAT FIRE - 1666

In the days before the London Fire Brigade, the Great Fire of London raged for five days during September 1666 - demonstrating the inadequacy of informal bucket brigades.

The conflagration started at the king's bakery on Pudding Lane.

According to the London Fire Brigade's web site, flames destroyed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches and a variety of other buildings - including The Royal Exchange, The Guild Hall and the original St. Paul’s Cathedral.

``The death toll was six people, yet a great many others died through indirect causes,'' such as exposure during the harsh winter that followed, according to the brigade's web site.

Just the same, ``There were some benefits of the fire,'' the web site said. ``One of these was that the black plague which had killed many people was eliminated by the burning down of diseased, rat-infested properties.''

-0-

From Port Cities web site

Towards the end of the 17th century, an insurance industry began to develop in London. One branch of the industry became involved in offering fire policies to owners of buildings. Before long, the insurance companies employed their own fire teams - recruited from the Thames watermen - to put out fires at properties they insured.

To distinguish which buildings were covered by their policies, insurance companies devised 'fire marks' - special metal signs to be placed on the facades of insured buildings.

Unfortunately, private enterprise was not really up to the task of protecting the public. As insurance companies were interested in protecting only their clients, they would usually ignore any properties not insured or insured by other firms.

Even when a company's fire crew did turn up at a blaze, they would often leave the building to burn. Although various compromises were reached, it was not a satisfactory situation.

It took more than a century before it became clear that the free market in fire fighting was not providing adequate protection. In 1833, 19 insurance companies banded together to form the London Fire Engine Establishment.

It was headed by James Braidwood, who had pioneered a similar initiative in Edinburgh. The Establishment had 80 full-time officers, popularly known as 'Jimmy Braiders'.