Firefighters of London 4
Joe Nicholson
in action
IV THE GREAT FIRE OF THE CITY OF LONDON, 1940
(Illustration)
FIREBOAT "BETA II" ON REGENT'S CANAL. Linoleum cut by auxilary
fireman STANLEY FROUDE. This is a linoleum cut and is an extremely
clever and original composition by a man who, before the war, was a
well-known etcher. It shows a fire barge being pulled along the
canal in the depth of winter by the crew so it could get to work
pumping to tenders.
There is an interesting sideline on this particular linoleum cut
insofaras Froude, whose particular job is was on this barge to keep
the linoleum floor clean, decided after some months it would be
quicker to remove the linoleum, and this lino cut is done on that
linoleum.
The lull continued over Christmas. Then, on 27th December, the
sirens sounded again and once more fire bombs began to drop over the
City. It was a fairly bad night. Londoners thought that they were in
for it again. But the following night nothing happened. The sirens
were quiet. The man in the street breathed his sigh of relief and
speculated on the chances of a resumption of the lull. But twenty-
four hours later these speculations were rudely put to an end. On
Sunday, 29th December, the Luftwaffe delibertely fired the age-old
City of London in the most savage attack of the aerial war. The
German communique said that 100,000 fire bombs were dropped, and for
once this may be the truth. Here, then, is the story of the Great
Fire of the City of London, 1940-----
The air raid warning was received at approximately 6:00 P.M. in
the control room at Fire Service Headquarters. Soon after the City
of London report centre telephoned advice of two large falls of
incendiary bombs at a certain point in the E.C. district and to
the north and south of the Guildhall. In a very few seconds
further reports of incendiary showers were received from other
parts of London, noteably from the X.......District*, a sector of
the City and from Y.......District*, south of the river, and
opposite the City. Soon local stations in these areas were
inundated with firecalls and emptied of their first-line engines.
About an hour later a serious fire situation had developed in the
neighborhood of St. Paul's Cathedral. Towards 8:00 P.M. two further
conflagrations were reported spreadin, one in the *Y.......area and
the other in the square quarter mile of narrow City streets
comprising *X.......
* Actual information censored.
(Illustrations)
BIG FACTORY FIRE IN LONDON. Water color by auxilary fireman
FREDERICK T.W. COOK. This depicts a modern factory which has
caught fire from incendieary bombs, and shows the men getting to
work to overcome the flames. Men can be seen working the pumps,
others unrolling hose, others fighting their way into the fire.
There is a great deal of sincerity in this particular picture which,
of course, is obvious when you consider the artist was one of these
men.
FIREMEN IN ACTION. Watercolor by auxilary fireman REGINALD MILLS.
This water color, which is very fine in draftsmanship and color,
has proved extraorinarily popular among Londoners. This puts in
simple form something of the strain, horror and determination which
the firemen of England have shown in their defeat of the attempted
destruction of their land by fire.
Fire was spreading easily in the City danger zone--where the
building were old and particularly open to the fire risk, where
narrow alleys and crooked streets ran between warehoused crowded
with inflammable stocks, where space was so valuable that
courtyards were roofed over with glass to house more sacks and
crates packed with easily fired goods. An adequate organization of
roof spotters would have saved many buildings and much stock from
the peril of sparkstorms. As it was, there were few roof spotters
and the fire spread. In addition to this, the owners of many
buildings had padlocked and bolted their doors, thus seriously
hampering the voluntary help that was offered when the situation
became critical.
There is normally no shortage of water for the fire services of
London, but on this occasion immediate calls were sent for the
supply of emergency water. There is normally a necessary time-lag
before this water can come through. Pumps must be positioned on
Thames, dockside, canals, lines of hose laid to the fire area,
canvas dams erected. These matters were put in hand at high speed;
but the water cannot come through in a minute. As soon as possible
those though river boats with their heavy pumps were in position,
hose had been flung across the mudflats, powerful hose-laying
lorries were setting out their twin lines in the direction of the
City danger zone a mile away. At the same time, mobile land pumps
were seeking strategic positions by the riverside where there might
be water within reach of their suction pipes. These pumps
eventually operated at bridges and dock basins situated some
distance from the fires.
Before nine o'clock a message from the Guildhall reported that
the spire of a neighboring church was in imminent danger of
collapse and might spread fire to the historic hall itself. Re-
inforements were required here--and in a hundred other places too.
By that time over three hundred fire engines had been sent to the
City. More had been diverted to fight fires in other parts of
London.
The fire situation in that square half mile of the City called
the "danger zone" was assuming alarming proportions. Even in peace-
time its narrow, congested streets flanked by warehouses filled with
inflammable goods made the possibility of a conflagration in this
area an ever present anxiety for London's fire chiefs. Fires were
started in hundreds of buildings and orange fire-glow blazed with
the bright force of sunlight. A glare rose high into the sky that
could be seen from great distances beyond London. Dark City alley-
ways and passages, curtained for a century by tall walls, exchanged
their twilight gloom for a flood of yellow light in one theatrical
moment. Firemen walked the streets through blinding spark showers
that drove down from the roofs with the intensity and regularity of
a blizzard. Waves of flame rolled across whole streets, black
clouds of smoke smothered the air. Firemen fought on. It seemed that
they fought a lost battle. And high explosives were falling, kill-
ing and injuring men.
Three important City fire stations were burning and had to be
evacuated. The controls retreated out of the immediate danger area
and set up again on the outskirts of the fire. Then, towards ten
o'clock the roof of the historic Guildhall caught alight. The air
raid staff in the vaults stuck to their posts until the fire had all
but reached their door, but eventually these too had to be
evacuated. Before midnight the all-clear siren sounded. It was a
relief to those working that the bombing was at an end, and
civilians further overloaded lines of communication with what they
thought to be new information about unreported fires.
By this time various units of the emergency water service were in
operation and the supply of water was being strongly augmented as
the minutes passed. Large canvas dams had been erected and firemen
cheered as they saw the water pour in. Pumping operations gathered
force. Firemen gathered new hope. Reinforcements of fire engines had
arrived, so that now there was water and there were pumps and
firemen to work them. Almost enough of each; enough anyhow to start
effectively the stemming of that ferocious flood of fire. And more
engines were racing on their way, more emergency water units were
coming into operation every moment.
(Illustrations)
DOCKLAND, 1940. Oil painting by auxiliary fireman LESLIE BAKER.
A vivid, honest direct painting of one of the huge dockland fires
by a man who felt his subject deeply. He well illustrates the
enormitiy of these fires in proportion to the men that have to
subdue them.
FORE STREET IN THE CITY. Oil painting by auxilary fireman
FREDERICK T.W. COOK. This is a very interesting picture of one of
our turntable ladders fully extended to 100 feet with a fireman at
the top, working a hose and pouring water right into the middle of
a large building which, as can be see, was alight from top to
bottom. Fore Street itself is quite uncomfortably near St. Paul's
Cathedral.
Cook has managed to get the haze of the smoke very convincingly
and he painted this picture immediately upon his return to the
stationafter working all night helping to put this paarticular fire
out.
From then on every man was at work. Gutters ran with black water
that streamed off the charred buildings. Dispatch riders scrambled
their motor-cycles over a maze of snaking hose-lengths that
littered every street. Petrol lorries arrived, and here it may be
noted that some of these heavy vehicles loaded with gallons of
inflammable petrol were driven by girls of the Women's Auxilary
Fire Service, driven through dangerous blizzards of sparks and
flying embers. Women also brought canteen vans into that inferno,
working tirelessly on through the night to feed the thousands of
firemen on the job. The work of feeding those crowds of men was a
problem. What could be done was done. Yet many firemen had to work
the night through and on into the middle of the following day
without refreshment or rest. A fifteen hour stretch of this hard
wet work without so much as a cup of tea is no small order; but the
ment knew what they had to do and they stuck it.
Perhaps the qualities of the fire scene that night may best be
illustrated by the mention of a few individual incidents
characteristic of what was going on throughout the City. W....
Street, for instance, was ablaze from beginning to end. Debris
blocked both outlets. Trapped in this basin of fire were held a
dozen or more engines together with the personnel manning them. For
a long time these men sought for a means to defeat the spreading
blaze. Both ends of the street were scaled. There seemed nothing
for it but to abandon the engines to the fire. This decision was at
last taken and the men looked for a way out. By the grace of God
they found one--a bridge leading to the entrance of an underground
tunnel. Via this tunnel they made a perilous escape, leaving behind
them a grave of fire and collapsing walls.
At another point one high explosive bomb falling in a brewery
yard killed eighty horses. Such a disaster gives some measure of
the damage wrought by the heavier bombs.
Firemen tell the story of a fantastic incident in another part
of the City. Once again fire stretched the whole length of the
street. Fire engines wee still positioned at the curb, but able to
pump up water on to the blaze. But it got too hot for one of the
small trailer pumps. The pump caught alight, the men had to retire.
But they found they were still still gripping hose fed from the
burning pump. Curiously enough the pump was still forcing out water
--the fire had not yet upset the engine. So they turned the jet on
to the pump and there was realised the anomoly of a fire engine on
fire providing water to save itself!
A great hospital was snatched from the flames after a long
battle and a fortunate choice of tactic by the officer in charge.
It was like this. A corner of the block of buildings that
comprised the hospital faced converging streets along which the
fire crept rapidly from house to house. It was apparent that,
unless this advance was somehow checked, that particular corner of
the hospital would eventually fall victim to the flames. Set in the
basement of the hospital was a swimming pool. This contained 40,000
gallons of water. Not a big supply, but enough for an attempt to
hold the fire off the corner of the building. With this end in mind
one of the smallest pumps was moved down into the basement and its
suctions lowered into the pool. This pump was to relay water to a
dam out in the open. From there another pump could feed on the
water sent up and direct its jets on the approaching fire. This it
did. The men stood on the corner and played water on the advancing
enemy as a machine gun post might make a last stand against a cease-
less flood of atacking infantry. Those men mowed the enemy down.
The fire was prevented from crossing the street. 40,000 gallons and
a laughably little pump save the huge hospital.
Down in the dark waters of the dock basins there was trouble too.
A fire boat had nosed its way into one dock at a time when water was
urgently required. This barge was to lift an invaluable ration of
water to feed relaying lines leading to the fire sector. But
beneath the still surface of the dock water lurked disaster--a
hidden wreck. As luck would have it, the course of the fire boat
was directed across the wreck's postion. There was a collision. And
for a time, at a period when minutes were precious as life and
inexorable as death, that fire barge was put out of action.
(Illustrations)
NO.43 LEE IN ACTION. Water color by auxilary fireman T. BUTLER.
This drawing is of particular interest to students of art
considering that it is the second attempt of a fireman who had not
previously painted. Its sincerity, intention, and general color
schemes are remarkable.
This water color shows two trailer pumps getting to work. The
fireman in the left-hand corner is connecting up to a hydrant, and
on the right can be seen the coachwork of a London Auxilary Fire
Service tender which is used as a towing vehicle for the pump.
FIREMAN'S NIGHTMARE. Oil painting by auxilary fireman PAUL
DESAUE. This young fireman is considered in England to be one of our
war discoveries, although he had a reputation as a book illustrator
before the war.
This particular nightmare has its humorous angle--everything that
could go wrong with a fireman has gone wrong with him. His stirrup
pump, which is used for dealing with incendiary bombs is all tied
up, he has his gas mask on, his pumpers have gone to pieces, and
everything is chaos.
The whole nightmare woke him up with a start, and he immediately
sat down to paint his picture, a feat which he accomplished in
exactly 25 minutes.
Many incendiaries fell across the dome and amid the towers and
buttresses of St. Paul's Cathedral. Frantically, the Cathedral
staff clambered over the threacherous slopes of the high roof in
their efforts to deal with the shower of bombs. Three outbreaks of
fire occurred. Creeping across dizzy stone escapements, reaching
out among buttresses that fell sheer to the street many feet below,
they yet managed to beat the bombs and quench the burning timbers.
But another danger threatened the geat Cathedral. Many buildings
surrounding her were ablaze from top to bottom. Flames reached out
across the street, licking close to the venerable stone. Firemen in
the street and on ladders worked furiously to stem the tide. Hour
after hour they slaved to hurl back that advancing wall of fire.
But hurl it back they did, and after a battle lasting hours they
cheered to know that St. Paul's was saved.
The fire at the Guildhall was intense and terrible. But to the
detached observer the scene must have seemed picturesque despite
his horror at such destruction. Flames trembled up and down the
skelton of the great tower that now flickered like a huge
pyrotechnic display piece. The silhouette of giant roof-rafters
stood out black and sombre against the red fire that was breaking
them. On shallow flats that buttressed the main building the fly-
shapes of firemen could be seen desperately fighting a sea of fire.
They were right up against eddying waves of flame a hundred feet
high. It looked as though they were already in it. Certainly they
were working in great danger of a general collapse. But they were
not wholly defeated and though the building suffered harm it is not
irrepairable and the flagstaff still stood to fly the Union Jack
when they hoisted it in the fresh light of dawn.
Such are the tales that go to make the saga of that night. Every
street had its tale of heroism and smiling endurance. Gradually the
battle was won. Soon after midnight the situation at Y....... was
reported eased; at one o'clock the X....... was in hand.
By 7:30 A.M. that morning all fires were under control.
But throughout the next day and night the work went on. Fresh
outbreaks had to be checked, smouldering debris and piles of hot
white ash doused of their last vestige of fire. By mid-day many of
the crews that had striven in the night were relieved by men
returning from leave. And so to the drugged sleep of exhaustion
after a battle that has lasted since seven o'clock on the previous
evening.
That morning a strange city greeted workers who sought their
offices. Great blocks of building had been gutted to the ground.
The charred shells of burnt-out shops and offices lined whole
streets. Beautiful architecture had disappeared overnight; or now
faced the day light black and broken--pathetic evidence of the new
German culture. Historic churches, designed centuries before by
the master hand of Christopher Wren, lay shattered, their very
altars choked with the black mud of dodden ember and ash. And yet,
with all this melancholy toll of destruction the heart of the City,
together with its great Cathedral, had been saved.
On the night of 29th December, 14 firemen were killed and over
250 injured. This in addition to casualties among the civilian and
military help that was so readily volunteered. To these men and to
the thousaneds of their comrads who fought with them went the great
gratitude of the people of London.
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