The Great Fire of Burnham on Crouch 1927

Monday 14 February 1927

In the 1920's Burnham on Crouch was served by a retained Fire Brigade of nine men who were paid by Burnham Urban District Council for their attendance at fires.

The Fire engine was horse drawn although a local firm allowed the use of their van to tow the engine if the van was available at the time of a fire.

On the night if the 13th February 1927 Mr William Harvey went to bed in terraced cottage three cottages from the end of the row in Lilian Road. Mr Harvey left the fire in the kitchen still alight.

In the early hours of the morning Mrs and Mrs Harvey were woken by strange noises and on opening their bedroom door they were driven back by the smoke.

The harvey family made their escape through the bedroom window by climbing down sheets and warned their neighbours.

The fire spread quickly as there was no party wall in the roof cavity which meant that soon other cottages were ablaze.

Another resident was sent to inform the Captain of the Fire Brigade who in turn knocked at the doors of other members of the Fire team.

Mrs Harvey has alerted other neighbours who had evacuated their house and fought the flames with pails of water.

By the time the Fire Brigade arrived the fire 15 minutes later had spread to the eighth house in the row.

The Fire Crew fought and prevented the blaze spreading betong the ninth house in the row but they were unable to prevent the worst fire in Burnham history completely gutting eight houses and making 59 families homeless.

The night was very cold with a thick fog and frost which had turned water sprayed onto the houses into ice with large icycles formed while the fireman were still battling with the flames.

Kind hearted neigbours provided shelter for the women and children, most of whom were dressed only in night clothes.

The families concerned were( size of family in brackets)  Louis Hyams (9) , Horace Peacocke (3), William Harvey (6), Arthur G Mapes (9), John Gillett (3), James Marshall (8), James Gould (3), William Smith (4), Chas Harrington (5) and William Deacon (8).

There were no injuries but almost all of the furniture and possesions in the eight houses were destroyed. Five of the tenants has their furniture insured but three lost everything that they owned.

The houses themselves were owned by Mrs Charles Read and Mrs Wickham both of which were covered for insurance.

The blaze became national news appearing in daily newspapers as well as local papers in the Essex area.

Burnham Urban District Council then arranged for the people to be temporarily housed in Burnham Isolation Hospital which was empty at the time and launched an appeal on behalf of the families whose furniture was destroyed by the fire. Local people responded generously as within two weeks £270 had been raised which allowed the families involved to restart their lives in new accomodation.