GREAT FIRE IN LONDON.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 213, 23 November 1897, Page 2

GREAT FIRE IN LONDON.

100 BUILDINGS DESTKOYED. DAMAGES, £2,000,000. London, November 20. The greatest fire in London since the Tooley-street conflagration of August, ISGI, when enormous damage was done amongst the wharves and warehouses, occurred to-day. It originated through a gas explosion in Hamswell-streefc. E.C., the centre of an enormous block of manufactories and warehouses. So strong a hold had it obtained, and so rapidly did it spread, that the firemen were at first powerless to cope with it.

Weil-street, Hamsweil-street, and Jewin-street were soon a mass of flames, and premises comprising three streets were completely destroyed, as also were parts of Nicholl Square, Jewin Crescent, Bradford Avenue, Wood-street and Eedcross-strect.

Much damage was also done to Australian Avenue, Edmund Place, Monkswell-street and Paul's Alley. The Barbers' Hall and St. Giles' Church and rectory, Cripplegate, were seriously damaged. Many workmen and girls in the factories and warehouses narrowly escaped death. They frantically rushed into the streets, while others were rescued from the roofs by fire

escapes Two firemen took refuge on a parapet 60 feet high, surrounded by flames, and were rescued with difficulty. Forty-one engines and all the fire brigades of the metropolis and salvage companies were engaged fighting the flames for ten hours.

There were many narrow escapes, but no fatalities are reported. The heat and falling debris destroyed the telegraph wires in all directions.

The western boundary of the conflagration was Aldersgate-street, the scene of devastation at its greatest width extending to a quarter of a mile.

Over n hundred warehouses and offices were burned. The damage is estimated at two millions. The Goldsmiths' Company are the chief holders of the freehold affected by the fire.