London Fire

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 248, 21 October 1935, Page 12

London Fire

DOCK WAREHOUSE

MILLIONS WATCH FLAMES DAMAGE TOTALS £1,000,000 HORRORS OP BURNING RUBBER LONDON, Sepfc. 28. . It is four days since tho great iire at Wapping broke out, but it is still burning. Tliis was London’s most spectacular pro for many years. It burned from the top to tho bottom of a sevenstorey warehouse on the Thames side, destroying large stores of rubber, tea, and spirits and doing damage estimated at £1,000,000.

Flames from the burning rubber shot 100 ft. in the air, bathing tho city and river in a great rod glow. Tho scene resembled an enormous fireworks display. Millions of people in the city and South London watched the awesome spectacle. Tower Bridge, London Bridge and the South bank of the river wero packed with people, and West End diners, in evening dress, took taxis to the scene.

Pleasuro steamers, with crowded decks, cruised as near the blaze as the terrific heat would allow. So great was the firemen’s task amid tho acrid fumes of rubber that two lorry-loads of gas masks -were brought up and a respirator van dealt with the casualties among the men.

Terrifying Scene The most terrifying scene of all occurred when a great wall collapsed and spilled a cataract of fire below. Firemen scrambled to safety just in time, but burning debris fell on four barges at the wharf and destroyed them. Molten rubber chocked tho drains and tho streets became awash. A film of rubber also spread over the Thames. The outbreak occurred on tho top door of a building at Colonial Wharij High Street, Wapping. About 50 men working there were able .to get out in safety, those on tho top floor being lowered by a crane. Tho building contained 40,000 cases of rubber and on the lower floors were large quantities of tobacco, tea and spirits. Thirty-six hours after tho outbreak there wero three violent explosions, punctuated by other minor crashes, and the flames leaped up with renewed vigour. Glass crashed into tho street as windows in the wall of the warehouse were blowfl out. The foreshore appeared to be alight as the huge pile of fallen rubber blocks blazed furiously. Difficulties for Firefighters

The fire is probably the dirtiest London has ever known. Raw rubber, black from burning, covers everything. When the rubber slimo began to solidify there were times when it took a dozen firemen to move a hose which, under normal circumstances, would have been moved with ease by one. The sticky rubber clung to their boots, to their clothing and hands, and it was a difficult task for a fireman to climb

the dizzy heights of the water towers when he went on relief.

Hundreds of tins of petrol were provided for the brigade to wash the adhesive rubber from their hands and boots, but immediately they restarted their fire-fighting they were again hindered by this glutinous mixture. A thick mixture of rubber and water, nearly a foot deep, covered the street. Fire engines trying to get .through the siimy fluid skidded helplessly and quantities of sand had to be put down before they could be moved.