I joined the Fire Brigade in 1981. My first posting was to J25 Tottenham in North London. During the years I spent there, I heard stories of "The Big One", a fifty pump fire, from the many older hands on the watch who had attended. Here is the story of a fifty pump fire:
Bamberger's was a timber importing company based on the outskirts of Tottenham in North London. It covered an area of around 475 ft. x 420 ft. To the West was the road that led from Tottenham to Walthamstow, to the North a recreation ground, to the South, houses and to the East the River Lee. The boundary on the North and East sides consisted of 8 ft. high corrugated steel sheets, to the South a similar wall of corrugated sheets, this time 24 ft, high. These walls were supported by unprotected rolled-steel stanchions.
The West side had a three-storey office block, other site buildings and an 8 ft. high brick wall. Entry to the site was via two 12 feet wide gateways with another two narrower pedestrian gateways. The largest part of the site extended westwards alongside the towpath alongside the River Lee. This comprised of thirteen timber storage bays, known as sheds. Each of these sheds was covered by a semi-elliptical roof made of corrugated steel, and these formed a continuous roof over the sheds. This entire roof was supported on unprotected rolled steel columns. The roof was painted on the outside with bitumen based paint to protect from the weather. Seven gangways, running East to West, each wide enough for a lorry to reverse down them toward the River Lee, to permit loading of the timber, were provided. Two further gangways running North to South, each one around 6 ft. wide. One of these ran down the middle of the sheds, the other ran near to the riverside boundary.
The sheds were full of timber consisting of teak and plywood veneers. This timber was brought to the site on barges via. the River Lee, then transferred into one of the sheds by an electric crane on an overhead gantry.
At the time of the fire there was 18 articulated wagons and trailers, each loaded with timber, parked throughout the site. Many of these wagons were parked in the gangways that passed through the sheds.
Lying next to the site in the River Lees were 12 dumb barges each laden with timber, and covered with tarpaulin sheets.
The Fire
A call was made at 21.13 to Wembley control. The caller was evasive, but after prompting was heard to say "Fire - Bambergers, High Road Tottenham, near the school" When asked "What school?" he replied, "Stamford Hill school." Then an indistinct road was named. He was then asked to spell the name, and spelled CROWLAND Road.
Three appliances were dispatched by control, these being 2 pumps from Tottenham and 1 pump from Stoke Newington. The machines from Tottenham attended at the main entrance to Bamberger's Ltd. situated in Crowland Road. They saw no sign of fire on the way. Stoke Newington's machine travelled the length of Crowland road to the West observing Bamberger's and also saw no signs of fire. When Tottenham's machines had arrived at the main entrance the officer in charge, Station Officer Hogg, was met by 2 women who said there was no possibility of a fire as they had just left the premises. The night watchman was summoned and crews searched the entire area to be sure. Verification of the call was then requested from control. Control said it was a hoax call, made from Manor House tube station some miles away. After further satisfying himself of no fire in the vicinity, Station Officer Hogg sent a Stop Message, by radio, of False Alarm.
The night-watchman, who had accompanied Station Officer Hogg, was also convinced there was no fire at that time. His duties included patrolling the site at 90 minute intervals. These patrols were recorded by clocking-in-clocks at several points throughout the site. All these clocks were destroyed in the subsequent fire, so no proof could be attained as evidence.
He made coffee at 23.20, and some minutes later he was alerted by the enquiry bell at the main gate, where someone informed him of smoke coming from one of the sheds near the towpath end of the site. He investigated, saw flames and called the brigade.
At 23.44 three calls were made to control to a fire at Bamberger's timber yard, Tottenham. Once again the same 3 appliances were ordered. As Station Officer Hogg approached the premises he observed a big, black, slow moving column of smoke in the direction of Bamberger's. Upon arrival, Tottenham's pump escape was driven into the yard and immediately provided 2 lines of hose, laid from the pump which was supplied from an hydrant near the main gates. These were taken by the two fire crews in the direction of the fire seen adjacent to the south wall, near to the river.