Ilfracombe - The History of Ilfracombe's Fires

The History of Ilfracombe's Fires

The Great Fire of Ilfracombe started at 12:40 am on the night of 28 July 1896 in the basement of Mr William Cole's ironmongers and furniture shop on the corner of Portland Street and Fore Street. The local volunteer fire brigade had it under control by the following morning. The firebrigade's entire equipment was a manual Merryweather engine, a hose-reel cart and one telescopic ladder on wheels. In total thirty five houses and business premises and their contents were destroyed. Later that year the fire brigade crew were presented with medals and £2 each at a dinner in their honour at the Royal Clarence Hotel. The damage was estimated at the times at between £80,000 and £100,000.

The same area of the town was struck by fire twice during the 1980s. First on 12 December 1981 Draper's paint store in the upper story of the building on the corner of Portland Street and Fore Street, this fire was contained quickly, however fumes from the burning paint meant much of the local area was evacuated during the night. The second much larger fire started at 2:30am on the night of 2 September 1983 in the shopping arcade under the Candar hotel. In this fire one life was lost. Both of these fires drew parallels to the Great Fire in the media of the time. The Candar Arcade site became the Candar sheltered residential apartments (the opening of Candar apartments wa the last public engagement performed by Charles and Diana, as the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1992.

Other fires in Ilfracombe include: On 17 May 1985 the Beacon Castle was devastated by fire. On the 5 August 1991 the Mount Hotel was destroyed by fire. On 24 January 2001 the Hotel Cecil; 14 January 2004 the arcade on the seafront near Susan Day Residential Home was destroyed by fire. On 17 November 2004 and 13 February 2005 the Cliffe Hydro suffered from fires.

Shortly before 19:00 BST on Wednesday, 8 August 2006, a fire broke out at the derelict Montebello Hotel in Fore Street, Ilfracombe. Twenty fire engines were required to put out the blaze including a number rushed to the scene from Woolacombe, Barnstaple and the bordering county of Somerset. Specialist equipment was brought in from as far afield as Exeter, and according to the local radio news 85 firemen were involved at the fire. The fire spread to three neighbouring properties and showered debris over a wide area. The six-storey hotel was completely gutted, with only the front wall, chimney stacks and remains of the lift shaft frame surviving the blaze, and the fire was still being damped-down the following day. Fore Street was closed for some period due to the difficulties of demolition.

The building was eventually demolished when it was determined that the fire had left it structurally unsound. This caused additional headaches for the emergency services as curious members of the public ignored safety barriers in an attempt to see the remains more clearly. The site is to be redeveloped as residential accommodation, although, as of August 2009, no work has been started on the site.

This history of Ilfracombe's large fires has to be taken in the context of the number, size, and antiquity of many early Victorian jerry built hotels. A comprehensive display in the museum shows whilst the size of buildings may be large, the frequency of such conflagrations is comparatively low and the justification as to why Devon and Somerset fire and rescue authority transferred the large extension ladder from the Ilfracombe station to Barnstaple.