Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 2 November 1934
Cottage Gutted
Denaby Family’s Narrow Escape
Heavy Losses
A disastrous fire occurred early yesterday at 85, Tickhill Street, Denaby Main, the home of a widow, Mrs. Rachel Jones. The outbreak resulted in the house being gutted, the four occupants escaping in night attire, one of them having to run half a mile barefoot to give the alarm; nearly £100 in cash being destroyed; a dog being burned to death; and all the household losing their clothing. The weather was so cold that water from the firemen’s hoses froze as it ran down the street.
Mrs. Jones was in bed at 2-45 a.m. when she heard a noise of, she thought, someone breaking into the house. She got up, opened the bedroom door, and was met by smoke. She roused the other occupants, Amos and Arthur (sons) and Rachel (a daughter), who were in bed, and she and Amos went downstairs. When they attempted to enter the kitchen they were driven back by flames.
It was impossible to save anything. Besides the furniture, a wireless set purchased last week, a new bicycle and about £100 in cash, all of which were in the kitchen, were destroyed. The majority of the money represented the insurance collections of Amos, who is an insurance agent. Unfortunately he had collected a large sum the previous night. The other son, Arthur, was sent to the colliery to get them to sound the fire alarm, and he made the journey without shoes or stockings.
Until the arrival of the Conisborough and Denaby fire brigades eighteen neighbours passed buckets of water from hand to hand and endeavoured to quell the flames. The fire, however, had got too good a hold. The brigades had a two and a half hours’ hard fight before they mastered it. Then the back bedroom floor had fallen in and only the shell of the building remained at the rear.
The furniture in the front room was saved, and when the fire had been extinguished the front room curtains still hung intact. All that remained at the rear was a charred heap and members of the household spent the morning searching with flashlamps in the vain hope of finding something. A pitiable spectacle met their eyes. The Jones’s dog, which they had had twelve years, had been burned to death. It had been driven out when the fire was discovered, but had returned unnoticed.
Members of the family told the “Times” that Amos and Arthur had remarkable escapes. The floor was beginning to sink and the bed with it when they roused. “It was like an inferno,” an onlooker said. “If they had remained in the house another five minutes they would have been burned to death.”
The houses of each side were also damaged by water and smoke, and the occupants, Mrs. Gough and Mr. Amos Lawley, a steward at the Denaby Miners’ Welfare Institute, removed their goods into the road for safety.
The destroyed household goods are valued at £300 and are not insured. A fire had been left in the grate when the family retired and it is supposed that the outbreak was caused by a spark falling on to a rug.
To relieve the family’s distress, Mr. T. J. Gregory, J.P., chairman of Conisborough Urban District Council, has opened a fund. Donations may be sent to the Council Offices and marked “Denaby Fire Relief Fund.”