BIG LONDON FIRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22225, 27 September 1935, Page 11

BIG LONDON FIRE

WHARF WAREHOUSE FLAMES RAGE 12 HOURS FIREMEN HELPLESS SPECTACULAR SCENE ENORMOUS DAMAGE By Telegraph—-Press Association—Copyright (Received September 26. 9.45 p.m.) LONDON. Sent. 2(5 London's most spectacular fire for many years, which fortunately involved no loss of life, broke out last evening at the Colonial Wharf, Wapping, and soon afterward 400 firemen, with 35 engines and two fircfloats, were fighting the flames. Most .of the firemen wore gasmasks.

The Colonial Wharf is the largest in this reach of the river.

The fire raged for 12 hours and completely destroyed a seven-storey warehouse building and stores of rubber, tea and spirits valued at £1,000,000. Traffic was suspended in High Street, Wapping, and the neighbouring dockside streets.

Later, police measures had to be taken to push back the crowds of spectators as an enormous crane on top of the building threatened to collapse. Reinforcements from fire brigade districts further afield arrived, but the fire continued to burn fiercely.

Two hundred policemen were needed to control the watching crowds, which included West End diners in evening dress who had hastened to the scene in taxis. Pleasure steamers with crowded decks cruised as near to the fire as the heat would allow. Flames from burning rubber shot 100 feet into the air, bathing the city and the river in a great red glow. Within five hours the entire building was a roaring furnace. There was a terrifying scene when the great river-side wall crashed. The firemen scrambled to safety just in time, but blazing debris fell on four barges and destroyed them. Streams of molten rubber ran down the streets and blocked the drains, and a film of burning rubber spread over the Thames.

SYDNEY OUTBREAK ESTIMATES OF DAMAGE PREMISES STILL BURNING SYDNEY. Sept. 2(5 The wool store of Goldsbrough Mort at Pyrmont, Sydney, was still burning this morning and the fire is expected to continue smouldering for a week. The damage is officially estimated at £BOO,OOO. The damage to railway property and telephone and electric light mains runs into thousands of pounds, and 160 of Goldsbrough Mort's employees have been thrown out of work. NO EFFECT ON PRICES OPINION AT BRADFORD LONDON. Sept. 05 Bradford wool importers express the opinion that the fire in Goldsbrough Mort's Sydney store will not affect the price of wool, alternative supplies being available, as the selling season has just begun.