At 23.50 Station Officer Hogg sent the assistance message, "make pumps 5" He then looked back towards the fire to see it spreading quickly in a westerly direction. So at 23.51 he sent a further assistance message, "Make pumps 8"
An appliance from Stoke Newington arrived and started to supply a further line of hose and jet into the building, as they were doing this a rolling flashover occurred which seemed to run alongside the wall on the South side of the site from East to West.
Tottenham's crews were ordered to withdraw by the Sub. Officer, but due to the speed of the flashover they had trouble getting clear. Five of Tottenham's crew suffered burns before they were able to withdraw.
At 23.54, Station Officer Hogg sent "Make pumps 10". He also ordered Tottenham's pump escape to be pulled out of the yard to a safer area. The fire was now spreading so quickly along the building from North to South that at 23.55 he sent a further message, "Make pumps 20"
The Tottenham appliance crew, which had earlier been burned, returned to help break the couplings on the hose lines. These had to be abandoned within the timber stacks due to their involvement in the fire. The police were then requested to evacuate the adjacent houses. ADO Spring from J Division HQ arrived and took over. He ordered a crew to get a line of hose to work at the entrance to the yard and to protect the three-storey office building and another crew to get to work from an hydrant to cover the houses at the rear of the site that were in imminent danger from radiated heat.
Divisional Officer Bagot arrived at 00.02 and took over command. He ordered ADO Spring to take charge of fighting the fire at the rear of the houses. ADO Spring then entered a house at the rear from where he noticed the 24 ft. high corrugated steel wall at the South side of Bamberger's was glowing white hot.
At the East end of the road, by the River Lee, a pump escape was set into the river. This appliance was supplying 4 lines of delivery hose, each of which had to be taken through the houses, and was used to cool down the 24 ft. high wall. In the meantime Divisional Officer Bagot established a command point at a nearby road junction.
The wind was only moderate from the Northeast, but the severity of the fire meant that it would create its own wind currents.
Station Officer Grant was ordered to take 2 pumps and gain access to the River Lee along the North side of Bamberger's to supply hose lines taken from the river. These would be used to protect a large overhead Diesel tank which was threatened by the fire.
Nearby houses were warned to be ready for instant evacuation should things get worse. The fire continued to spread, and at 00.15 the message "Make pumps 36, and radial branches required" was sent followed at 00.17 an informative message which read "Spread of fire involving six single storey buildings covering an area of 300 ft. x 200 ft.
At 00.20 a further message requesting "Make hose layers 3" was sent.
Station Officer Grant, on receiving instructions, was tasked with attempting to clear an access through shed No. 1 which was blocked by several articulated lorries. By using firemen as drivers he managed to move some, but then found one that failed to start. This was pushed out by the lorry behind. When this job was almost complete it was found that the final trailer unit had no motive power, and was unable to be moved. The attempt to gain access to the River Lee failed. Another route was found via the recreation ground at the rear. Firemen had to cut through concrete wall with pick axes and hand axes to gain access. Hose and branches were then passed through and laid out to the rear of No. 1 shed and got to work. At the same time lines of hose were laid across the recreation ground and got to work from other appliances and pumps sent to the recreation ground to assist in pumping more water from the river. Further jets were got to work along the towpath and positioned onto the dumb-barges to protect the timber stack of which they were laden.
Deputy Assistant Chief Officer Blewin arrived at the blaze at 00.25 and took charge. After an assessment and briefing from D.O. Bagot he sent the message "Make pumps 50."
Appliances continued to arrive and get to work. There were eventually 15 jets at work on the South side of the site to protect the private houses facing the fire. Firemen were given the job of patrolling the nearby streets due to the danger of the enormous amounts of flying brands being given off, setting fire to other properties.
The Deputy Chief Officer arrived and took command. The direct attack on the fire increased, as was cooling-cover to the 3,000 gallon overhead diesel tank. Further protective jets covered the three-storey office building and a 2,600 gallon petrol tank.
At 01.06 the Deputy Chief Officer sent a message that progress was being made containing the fire. Soon after the Chief Officer arrived and assumed command. At 01.36 he sent "Fire surrounded" followed at 02.45 with the Stop message. By the time this message was sent almost all of the 13 timber storage sheds covering 420 ft. x 300 ft. and the contents, along with 8 wagons and trailers had been destroyed. Strenuous efforts by those fighting the blaze had saved the oil and petrol tanks from becoming involved, and had saved the offices and other ancillary buildings on the site. They also stopped the spread of fire to the adjacent houses. 44 hand-held jets and 4 radial branches were used in the effort to extinguish the fire which was the largest since the war.
Crews stayed on the site for more than 4 weeks damping down, with one of the first pumps pumping continuously from open water all of that time, only being refuelled from jerry cans. The cause was recorded as of doubtful origin.
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