The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-11-10 00:00:00

GREAT FIRES IN LONDON.

One of the most remarkable conflagrations with
which the Metropolitan Brigade has had to cope in
recent years broke out at half-past four o'clock on
Saturday morning in the East end of London, when
an alarm of fire was raised at the saw mills of Messrs.
Lines, Brothers, firewood manufacturers, at Bath-
place, Whiston-street, Haggerston. A number of
er gines were turned out from the stations of the "0"
district in response to the call, and it was found that a
building of two floors, about 90ft. by 351 t. in dimen-
sions, and used as saw mills, engine and boiler house,
was alight in the upper floors. This was a large
structure in itself, and the brigade had some
hours' work before them to subdue this portion
of the fire. But, unfortunately, a serious element of
danger existed in the fact that the scene of the fire
was upon the banks of the Regent's Canal, and the
wharves were covered with immense stacks of timber.
These were chiefly of pine and fir,and at about sixo'clock
on Saturday morning some of the wood was ignited.
The whole stack, however, did not become involved,
and the deliveries from three or four steamers, brought
promptly to play on the lames, were the means of
apparently subduing the outbreak here. Captain
Shaw, in his official report of Saturday morning,
gave the details of the fire, and stated the damage
to be ' a building of two floors, about 901 t.
by 351 t., used as sawmills, engine and boiler
house, and the contents nearly burnt out and the roof
off, and a large stack of firewood on the wharf
damaged by fire." The flames, however, not being
entirely extinguished, it was downed advisable to
leave a body cf men on duty, and to keep a few
deliveries at work. On Sunday morning, in the early
hours, the alarming news was received at the district
head-quarters that the fire had broken out again, and
was burning most strongly. When Superintendent
Campbell arrived he found a conflagration in progress
which is said to be unparalleled in the annals of
London fires. An immense pile of timber, roughly
estimated at about 240 ft. long, 60ft. wide, and 501 t.
high, was alight from end to end, and the heat
thrown out from this enormous mass of burning
wood was tremendous. The place at which the
flame broke out is like a timber town. On the
other side of the narrow canal was a etack lofty
as some of the highest of the City warehouses, and
then right along down the banks of the canal were
the collections of Messrs. Dance and Co., firewood
manufacturers. Some twenty yards of space and a
high wall separated the burning timber from the
Haggerston Gas Works, and running parallel
was a small thoroughfare with about a dozen two-
storey tenements on either side. At the first out-
break the inhabitants of these had been ordered to
remove their furniture, and it was fortunate that
this bad been done, for the terribly fierce flames
soon attacked the whole line of houses on one side
of the street, and speedily gutted every one. In
fact, so remarkably strong was the fire getting,
and so very rapidly was it spreading at one o'clock on
Sunday afternoon that it was deemed advisable to
telegraph for every possible aid, and a strong force—
more than equal to that employed upon the (newton
of the Wood-street fire was got to work, the
engines being ranged in line in the yard of the Gas
Works. The river appliances of the brigade were
also brought into requisition, steaming from the
Thames into the Canal. What was greatly feared
was that the opposite lot of wood would catch fire,
and this, which contained ten ships' loads of timber,
at last became involved. A remarkable hand-to-hand
fight with the flames ensued, for the brigade authori-
ties, knowing how terrible would be the extent of the
already great conflagration if this stack got thoroughly
alight, urged the members of the brigade by word and
example to exert the meet strenuous efforts to prevent
this catastrophe. Many of the firemen were posted
upon the top of the stack, directing the deliveries upon
the other fires, and they worked most energetically to
extingui3h the fresh outbreak.
At ten o'clock on Sunday night the scene was the
most remarkable ever witnessed by those who have
bad long experience of such matters. Standing upon
the canal bridge, the onlooker had immediately in
front of him a lofty stack of burning timber blazing
furiously far down the banks of the Regent's Canal.
On the left there was the other great stack of timber,
on the top of which, at a giddy height, a score
of men were pouring water on the flames. The
burning wood, partly fallen down, had completely
covered the surface of the canal six feet deep,
and the effect of this was strikingly peculiar, At
the back, under the bridge, and nearly on a level with
the canal, was a long line of steamers, working inces-
santly, and on every side were firemen directing water
upon the fire. The flames threw a light as darkness
came on which illuminated the whole of East London,
and thousands were thus attracted to the scene. A
very large muster of police was necessary to protect
the men in their work from interruption, and some
200 constables were on the spot, and kept the ground
clear.