The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-01 00:00:00

DES 7 RUC7 IVE FIRE I N TlEzolDazkr, ROAD.

Last night, betweeen the hours of seven roll
eight o'clock, the whole of the buildings on the
et
Surrey side of the river for miles around bei.t
brilliantly illuminated, to such an extent as
to be
b
hardly credible unless witnessed, owing to the out-
break t-
break of a fearful fire in the premises belonging to
Messrs. Simpson and Co., wholesale and retail oil
and colourmen, varnish manufacturers, &c., carry-
ing on a large business at Nos. 53 and 54, London-
road, Southwark.

' don-road into Nelson-place, the back. portion form,..
/
partments were stored several tons -weight of oils
tanks filled with turpentine, varnish, and a large'
quantity of resin, pitch, gums, and other equally
inflammable articles, but fortunately no gunpowder.
I t appears that two men, Chas. Knight and Wm.
by the firm in hoisting casks,
of oil or turpentine to the upper warehouse by
The premises in question extended from the Lon-.
ioye:ind store., whilst the front was
Long, were
the warehousesetnp
4 used as the retail department. In the former cum..
means of an iron chain crane. "Whilst so doing
Police-constable Pike, of the L or Lambeth di
.r 1..
SiOn, who was on duty at the back of the buildi.Tig,
saw a strong body of flame in that floor, and kreow-
ing that only the ordinary gas- burners -were
alight, he felt convinced that the warehouse •,v as on
fire, and he therefore called out to the men tx, make
their escape as speedily as possible. In an /instant
afterwards a sheet of flame rolled over vie ware-
house, rushed through the loophole in the back
front almost across Nelson-place, and the mart
Knight, in order to avoid being burnt to death,
had to slide down the chain of the crane. He had
barely reached the street when a sheet o f flame rose
into the air, and so extensive was it that it gave
intelligence simultaneously to every eT3gine-keener
in the metropolis; and without delay 'the eng'ines
of the brigade from the Waterloo-road statiou at-
tended, under the direction of Engineer Medealf.
Lieutenant Becker next came camp up, with
Hodges's engine and firemen from the Lambeth
Distillery, and was followed by Mr. Henderson,
with the Southward-bridge-road engines; Captain
Shaw, the chief of the brigade, and Foreman I.
Gerrard and Swanton also followed-with the power-
ful land steam-engines by Shand and Mason.
A plentiful supply of the Lambeth and South-
wark Company's water having been obtained, the
firemen, under Capt. Shaw and, the other superior
officers, went to work in a most daring and intrepid
manner; for, regardless of turpentine or oil burst-
ing, they mounted ladders, entered the warehouse,
and threw such immense columns of water into the
building as to prevent the flames from reaching the
front shops,alt hough turpentine and oil were washed
along the floor and ran through into the street.
The steam engines, it is only right to say, did
what might be literally termed wonders, for unbroken
columns of water were scattered round the ware-
house, and falling into the basement had the desired
effect of saving 15 tons weight of oil deposited
therein.

By 10 o'clock the fire was entirely extinguished;
but great as the damage unfortunately has been, it
will not materially interfere with the business, as
the whole of the front houses have sustained no in.
jury, except by water, heat, and smoke.

. _ .
The firm, it is believed, was insured in the Sun
and Westminster Fire-cffices.

Another fire broke out whilst the above was at
its height, in Bermondsey, which was attended by
Lieut. Becker with Hodge's engine, and one of the
brigade; but the damage done was only the de-
struction of one room and its contents.