ENORMOUS FIRE IN LONDON

Pahiatua Herald, Volume V, Issue 573, 22 November 1897, Page 3

ENORMOUS FIRE IN LONDON

One Hundred Warehouses and Offices Destroyed.

The Damage Estimated at £2,000,000. By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.— Per Press Association. London, November 20. The greatest fire in London since the Tooley street conflagration of Augißt,‘t£l9l, w hen enormous damage wa»4one tnuongst the wharves and warelonseis, occurred to-day. The We originated through a gas explosion in Hamswell street, E.C., the centre of an enormous block of manufactories and warehouses. So strong a bold bad the fire obtained and so rapidly did it spread *hat the firemen were at first powerless to cope with it. Well street, Hamsw ell street and Jewin street were soon a mass of flames, and the premises comprising these streets were completely destroyed, as also were parts of Niclioll square, Jewin crescent, Bradford avenue, Wood street and Red Cross street.

Much damage was also done to Australian avenue, Edmund place, Monkswell street and Paul's alloy.

Barber’s Hall and St Giles' Church and Rectory, Cripplegate, were seriously damaged. Many workmen and girls in the factories and warehouses narrowly escaped from death. They frantically rushed into the streets. Others were rescued from the roofs by fire escapes. Two firemen took refuge on a parapet 00 feet high, surrounded by flames, and tiiey were rescued witli difficulty.

Forty-one engines and all the fire brigades and salvage companies in the metropolis were engaged fighting tho flames for 10 hours.

There were many narrow escapes but not fatalities.

It is reported that the heat and falling debris destroyed the telegraph wires in all directions.

The western boundary of the conflagration was Aldorsgate street north. Over 100 warehouses and offices were burned. The damage is estimated at £2,000,000. Goldsmiths’ Company arc the chief holders of the freeholders affected by the fire. Received 0.50 p.m. London, November 21. Amongst the buildings destroyed by fire were the premises of Bing, Harris and Co. (Dunedin), and L. I>. Nathan and Co. (Auckland), both situated in Hamscll-strcct.