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.

"EAST END"

On Aug. 17, 2010, the fire brigade extricated a burglary suspect who was too wide to fit through a window in East London, according to the Evening Standard.

WANDSWORTH - 2010

Photo: BBC

On Aug. 1, 2010, London firefighters rescued two people from a six-pump fire at Sudbury House on Wandsworth High Street.

QUEEN VICTORIA STREET - 1891

Major fire on Queen Victoria Street in 1891.

THE CITY - 1940

Photo: City of London
Firefighters and Auxiliary Fire Service trailer pump at "emergency dam" at Aldermanbury after a German air raid on the City of London on Dec. 29, 1940. The trailer pump is numbered for Auxiliary Fire Service sub-station 55X.

CLAPHAM - 2010

On July 5, 2010, London firefighters rescued several people - including these women standing on the window ledge - from a fire in a commercial building in Clapham. Most of those rescued suffered from smoke inhalation.

EUSTON - 1973

Photo: BBC On Sept. 10, 1973, the Irish Republican Army detonated a bomb at the Euston railway station in central London. About an hour earlier, a bomb exploded at the King's Cross station. Thirteen people were injured between the two blasts.

CENTRAL LINE - 2007

Photo: Daily Telegraph

On July 5, 2007, hundreds of London Underground commuters were trapped on the Central Line for two hours after a train struck "an obstacle" between Mile End and Bethnal Green, according to The Daily Telegraph. "Emergency services treated 20 people for light injuries, including five who were brought to hospital mainly as a result of suffering breathing problems because of panic attacks," the Telegraph reported.

CIGARETTE CARDS

In the years leading up to World War Two, collecting "cigarette cards" was a popular hobby, and in 1938 tobacco companies issued a series depicting air raid precautions, according to the Midnight Watch web site.

CLERKENWELL - 1867

Photo: Metropolitan Police

"The Fenians were 19th Century Irish Nationalists organised in 1858 as the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland, and in 1867 as the Clan na Gael in the US. The name derives from old Irish 'Fianna', legendary Irish warriors whose name became an Irish term for soldiers. Their activities included the Clerkenwell Bombing in 1867, in which 12 people were killed and 126 injured as the Fenians attempted to rescue two of their members." - Metropolitan Police web site

BATTERSEA - 2009

Photo: Sky News web site
On Dec. 16, 2009, a double-decker bus accident in Battersea injured about two dozen people. Crews from the London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service provided care. Medics are dressed in yellow and green uniforms.

LONDON SALVAGE CORPS

Photo: Fire Engine Photos
London Salvage Corps DCU (damage control unit) in Tottenham in late 1970s. The vehicle carried tarpaulins and other salvage equipment. The salvage corps, operated by the insurance industry, disbanded in the 1980s. It began operations in 1866.

SHOREDITCH - 2010

Photos: BBC web site, submitted by viewers

Fire in Shoreditch, central London

On March 11, 2010, flames swept a block of buildings on Tabernacle Street in Shoreditch, and at the height of the incident 20 engines and about 100 firefighters were at the scene.

The initial alarm was received at about 4:30 a.m. and smoke was visible across central London. The fire was under control about seven hours later.

"This was a complicated fire spreading rapidly through different premises and onto a bituemin covered roof, creating huge plumes of smoke across the city and presenting very difficult firefighting conditions for the crews attending," London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said.

"This incident yet again highlights the need for our fire safety work to prevent the fire risk and disruption these incidents have on our capital,” Dobson said.

The building housed a popular club, bar and restaurant - Sosho and the East Room.

Owner Jonathan Downey told The Evening Standard: "It's like one of those smart bombs has just landed on my organisation. Floors have collapsed, some walls are in danger of collapsing. Our head office was there."

INITIAL REPORT FROM THE SCENE
04:32
F24 SHOREDITCH
20 PUMP FIRE PERSONS REPORTED, AERIALS 4
37219101
TABERNACLE STREET, EC2.
Range of buildings of 3,4,and 5 floors, 40 metres x 50 metres, 20 percent of 2nd floor, 20 percent of 3rd floor, 50 percent of roof alight, 3 jets, 1 ground monitor, 2 aerials, all breathing apparatus crews withdrawn, all persons not yet accounted for, tactical mode oscar.

WAREHOUSE - 1960s OR 1970s

Photo: Collection of Kevin McDermott, retired London firefighter
Firefighters in cork helmets at warehouse blaze in London, circa 1960s or 1970s.

WHITEFRIARS - 1959

From left to right - Station Officer Hanslip with Firemen McDermott, Elliot and Sloman outside Whitefriars Fire Station in London, 1959

Photos: Collection of Kevin McDermott, retired London firefighter
Left to right - Firemen Smith, Collins and McDermott of the Red Watch at Whitefriars Fire Station, London, 1959.

LAMBETH - 1850

FRESNO STAR - 1946

On March 25, 1945, fire broke out in the engine room of the cargo ship Fresno Star at London's Royal Victoria Dock. "Firefighters wearing respirators fought their way through blazing oil to rescue seamen trapped below deck," according to a dispatch from the Australian Associated Press. The 8,000-ton vessel was operated by the Blue Star Line.

MANOR FIELDS - 1985

Photo: BBC

On Jan. 10, 1985, a natural gas explosion leveled Newnham House, a three-story block of flats at the Manor Fields Estate in Putney Hill. Eight people died and dozens others were injured.

The London Fire Brigade freed a woman from the debris, the Associated Press reported. She had been trapped for several hours when firefighters heard her calls for help.

Residents called the gas company to report an odor before duisaster struck, but utility crews "arrived two minutes after the blast," according to the BBC.

During the 36-hour search, a fire brigade safety officer alerted crews to a teetering chimney that collapsed seconds later in a hail of brick and mortar, the AP reported.

"It was a split second business," said Brian Clarke, a fire brigade spokesman, quoted by the AP. "We could have had a new disaster."

Government inspectors "concluded that the explosion was caused by gas leaking into the building from a crack in a cast-iron gas main," the BBC reported.

The BBC also said police chased looters from the site and "found a collection of plastic bags stuffed with £20 notes totalling thousands of pounds, among the debris."

EAST ENDERS

German bombers routinely hit London's industrial East End during the Blitz of 1940-1941 - destroying docks, warehouses and factories and demoralizing the working class class.

In the book "A Cockney Kid In Green Wellies," author Jim Ruston recalled the scene:

"Fire hoses wriggled along the ground like snakes, as they were pulled from building to building. Fractured water mains spurted fountains of water high in the air. Emergency supplies had to be pumped from the Regent's canal.

"Firemen, ambulance crews, civil defence members, and the heavy rescue teams were going about their work. The smoke stung your eyes, the dust got in your mouth and the acrid smell of gas lingered in your nostrils.

"As if a vision, dad appeared. He seemed to come from nowhere out of the smoke and dust. ... His face was black, his blue overalls covered in grime, under his arm he held a helmet with the letter R for rescue painted on the front. For that is what he did throughout the Blitz. Defiant, he would never go down a shelter.

"Like most East-Enders, dad thought London exclusively his."

'THE RESCUE'

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rescue (1855) is a painting by John Everett Millais depicting a London fireman rescuing three children from a house fire, with their mother receiving them back into her arms.

Millais witnessed the death of a fireman in the course of a rescue, and decided to depict the subject. The fire brigade had only recently been transformed from private businesses dedicated to the protection of property to a public institution charged to protect life first.

Millais sought to create the correct effects of light and smoke by using a sheet of coloured glass and by burning planks of wood. This emphasis on fleeting effects of colour and light was a new departure in his art.

The painting is also notable for its startling transitions of colour, particularly the dramatic effect by which the sleeve of the mother's nightgown changes from slatey blue to pale pink. This led to much critical comment at the time.

Robyn Cooper argues that some criticism of the painting arose from the fact that it depicted a virile working class man rescuing middle class children, while their father is nowhere to be seen. The mother's opened arms seem to greet this strong new man as much as her children.

STRATFORD TUBE - 1953

Image: Accident Report

Photo: Newham Recorder

On April 8, 1953, rescuers freed commuters trapped in a London Underground tunnel after two trains collided during the evening rush hour. Nine people died and many others were injured.

Nurses from Queen Mary's Hospital and Whipps Cross Hospital responded, caring for the injured and assisting surgeons as the London Fire Brigade and others burrowed through the Central Line wreckage between Statford and Leyton.  

"It's just a shamble down there," said a London fireman quoted by the press. "We have to cut our way through every inch."

A news report from the scene said: "Heavy jacking equipment was taken into the tunnel to raise shattered coaches. A ceaseless procession of nurses carried surgical instruments, bandages, splints and other medical supplies."

St. John Ambulance also responded.

Investigators determined a signal failure led to the tube mishap.

RUDI M - 1980

Photo: London Fire Brigade

(Editor's Note: Thank you to Station Manager Robin Whittington of London's Poplar Fire Station for providing this post.)

By Steve Dudeney

The Motor Vessel Rudi M was an 800-ton Panamanian registered liquid gastanker, and in the winter of 1979/80 it came into Regents Canal Dock off of the River Thames in East London to undergo a re-fit.

On Jan. 17, 1980, fire crews from the Green Watch at Poplar Fire Station, whose ground covered the Regents Canal Dock, had been called to a fire on the ship caused by workers using hot cutting equipment. The fire was quickly tacked by the crews and work on the boat continued throughout January until the fateful morning of the 25th.

The Red watch at F22 Poplar reported for Duty at 1800 on Thursday, Jan. 24. Stn O Tony Westbrook was in charge with Sub O DennisHurley, Lfm John Bailey and Leading Fireman Steve Maynard as the officers that night.

The rest of the watch on duty that night were Fm Dave Andrew, Fm Mick Brophy, Fm John Burgess Fm Carl Chughtai, Fm Steve Debenham, Fm Bill Downey, Fm Keith Herbert, Fm Barry Holmes, Fm Brian Jeffries, Fm Keith Leggett, Fm Keith Stimpson and Fm Paul Wickenden.

Typically for Poplar at that time they had a very busy night with a number of calls in and around Poplar and the pump, with Stn O Westbrook in charge, had spent a large part of the night fighting a 25-pump fire at Chelsea Flour Mills in West London.

Friday dawned a clear day, at around 8.30am a number of the oncoming Green Watch had started to appear, having had a long night a few of the Watch had decided to take an exchange duty so a few members of the Green Watch were now riding for Red Watch personnel.

At 08:55 that morning a call was received at Stratford Fire Control from workers on the ship. There was a fire in the hold; once again contractors had accidentally set alight to insulating material in the tank.

The bells went down at Poplar ordering the pump escape and pump along with the pump from F25 Shadwell to the fire. Upon the arrival of the crews, a fire was seen to be in progress in the hold of the ship and a 4-man BA crew consisting of Lfm Steve Maynard and Fm Steve Debenham from the Red Watch with Sub O George Thomas & Fm Gary Jones from the Green Watch were committed to the hold in BA with a firefighting jet.

The hold was very hot and smoky with visibility at zero. Steve Debenham withdrew to the jetty to get a pair of gloves but was ordered by Stn O Westbrook to go back down and get the crew to withdraw. Steve returned to the hold and passed on Stn O Westbrook's' order, Sub O Thomas and Fm Jones left first followed by Steve Debenham and Steve Maynard.

Upon reaching the top of the ladder Steve Debenham noticed Steve Maynard was not behind him.

He went back down the ladder and all of a sudden the hold of the ship erupted into flame and smoke. Steve Debenham was badly burned and Steve Maynard did not manage to escape, he tragically lost his life.

[Terry Dietman, a worker at the dock, told the East London Advertiser newspaper that day: “There was a sudden gush of smoke from the hold. It was awful. Everyone was so helpless.”]

The LFB lost a good officer and his family and colleagues mourned his untimely death at the age of 26.

Thirty years on from that day, Limehouse Basin is now almost unrecognisable. Members of Steve's family, retired members who attended the fire, local senior officers and principal LFB officers lined up at the side of the dock as a new plaque to commemorate the anniversary of Steve's death was unveiled by London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson.

---

'NICE AND DECENT BLOKE'

Recalling the fire 30 years later, Steve Debenham said in an interview with The Docklands 24 web site:

"It's so important to remember people like Stephen and to let his family know we've never forgotten about him

"He was the one who told me to go up the ladder on that morning and then there was the explosion. That shows the courage of the man. He was a thoroughly nice and decent bloke and had a great sense of humour.

"It was devastating for everyone and I still think about it all the time - it's very distressing to lose a friend and colleague."

GOSWELL ROAD - 1969

Photo: Collection of Kevin McDermott, retired London firefighter

The collapse of an old air raid shelter at Goswell Road, Islington, in 1969, killed London firefighter Michael Lee of the Shoreditch Fire Station and seriously injured another firefighter.

CONSULATE FIRE - 1980

Photo: Ottawa Citizen
On March 24, 1980, flames destroyed the Italian Consulate in London's fashionable Knightsbridge district. More than 50 firefighters answered the alarm.

EMBASSY SIEGE - 1980

Photos: BBC

On May 5, 1980, a six-day siege at the Iranian embassy ended after a dramatic raid by Special Air Service commandos that freed 19 hostages.

Members of the London Fire Brigade entered the building to extinguish flames ignited by military explosives while police evacuated the hostages.

Five gunmen and one hostage died in the shootout.

The attackers belonged to a group opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini, the religious leader who came to power in Iran in 1979, according to the BBC.

DREAM CITY - 1994

On Feb. 28, 1994, a homeless man surrendered to police for setting a blaze claimed 11 lives at an adult theater in Clerkenwell, London.

The fire on Feb. 26 at Dream City, near Smithfield Market, injured 13 others.

Witnesses reported seeing a man with a red gasoline can before the flames erupted at the unlicensed theater.

"It was a horrific incident - the worst I have experienced in 30 years," said Ken Emsley, commander of the Euston fire station, who was quoted by The Independent. "It was absolutely chaotic. We were working under extreme conditions, with so many people trying to get out of the building."

According to the newspaper:

"Dream City showed straight and gay sex films and occupied the second and third floors. Witnesses said flames engulfed all floors within minutes of the building 'exploding'. The injured suffered severe burns, broken bones and the effects of smoke inhalation. Some jumped from third-floor windows. The pavement outside became strewn with dead and injured as police and ambulancemen battled to revive badly burned victims."

The fire was set by a "deaf, homeless man called David Lauwers" who had a disgreement with the doorman, according to Wikipedia. Lauwers surrendered at the Walthamstowe police station, and a court sentenced him to life in prison.

TURNING OUT

"There's always this hurry. Now you'll have to tell me if my helmet's on straight."

London Evening News - July 24, 1936

British Cartoon Archive

MADAME TUSSAUD'S

Flames and aerial bombardment visited Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London during the 20th Century, gutting the popular exhibition hall.

According to the BBC:

"In 1925 an electrical fault caused a raging fire; by the time the fire brigade arrived many of the sculptures had already melted, but many of the head moulds were saved. This meant that, despite the fire destroying the death masks of, among others, Robespierre, the masks could be remade.

"In 1939, with the beginning of the Second World War, London endured the first of many bombing raids. On 8 September, 1940, the first night of the London Blitz, Madame Tussaud's was hit by a bomb which inflicted heavy damage."

COLNEY HATCH - 1903

UPDATED JULY 2021

Images:  Illustrated London News; Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle Telegram, Jan. 27, 1903;  post card

On Jan. 27, 1903, a fire at the sprawling Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum - a psychiatric hospital serving London - killed 52 women.

The facility was considered a fire trap with temporary wards made of lumber.

A contemporary account (printed in the British Journal of Psychiatry) said:

"A few minutes after half-past 5 yesterday morning the steam siren at the asylum sounded the fire alarm, and the inhabitants of New Southgate, Barnet, and Edmonton, the parishes surrounding the asylum, who swarmed into the streets, saw a startling glare showing from the asylum grounds. It was evident that a disastrous fire, which had already obtained a strong hold, was in progress.

"A number of local residents climbed the wall of the asylum at the rear with a view of rendering assistance, but their aid was refused. The fire which had broken out so suddenly and was destined to end so tragically began at the bottom block of the temporary wards.

"It burnt from the outset with great fury, and in a few seconds the whole of the southern block, known as X ward 5, was involved. The buildings, being erected on timber frames and lined with matchboarding, of course fed the flames, and there being a high wind blowing at the time, every element necessary to assist the blaze was present.

"The asylum house fire brigade at once resolutely attacked the fire, but apparently they were in difficulties owing to the lack of water, and they were also short-handed for a task of such magnitude as that which confronted them, there being less than a dozen of the asylum staff drilled as firemen resident inside the walls.

"The heat and smoke created by the fire were also bad elements to contend with, it being im- possible to approach the burning block. In these circumstances it was not surprising to the spectators to observe after a very few minutes that X Ward 4 had burst into flames, which had swept along the commu nicating corridor, meeting with no opposition, while by this time the iron sides and roof of X 5 were almost at a white heat.

"The Hornsey Fire Brigade had been the first to get their steamer to work, but they were unable to do any effective duty until they had dammed a brook at the bottom of the slope, about 400 yards from the fire. When they began to play upon the flames it was too late to prevent the total destruction of the temporary wards, which, in little more than an hour after the outbreak was discovered, had been burned out from end to end and had crumpled down.

"One after another the doomed huts burst into flames. For a while each burned with a brilliant glare, the flames shooting high into the air through the slightly-constructed roof. Then the roof and walls collapsed amid a shower of sparks, and the fire swept on to claim its neighbours. One by one in this rapid way all five of the wards tumbled down, a heap of smouldering ruins."