Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 14 June 1924
Big Denaby Blaze
Shops Destroyed.
Families Homeless.
A Costly Outbreak.
Denaby Main suffered from the worst outbreak of fire remembered in the township on Saturday morning.
The outbreak was discovered near one o’clock, and the giving of the alarm brought the Conisborough Fire Brigade, under Sergt. Downing, on the scene very quickly. The fire was raging in the middle of the important block of shops and tenements near the Denaby Main Hotel on Doncaster Road, and the centre of the outbreak was the milliner’s shop belonging to Mr. Marshall.
Flames were pouring out of the windows and doors when the firemen arrived, and spreading rapidly to the shops on either side. The work of the Brigade was to limit the spread of the fire as much as possible, for they could not save Mr. Marshall’s shop, nor those immediately adjoining it.
They were soon joined by the Mexborough Brigade, under Captain Frank Harrison, and the united efforts of the two brigades saved the whole block from destruction, or at least severe damage. As it was, it took a couple of hours to get the blaze under control, and it was nearly seven o’clock before the last smouldering embers were extinguished.
By that time, Mr. Marshall’s shop, Mr. Giles’s jewellery establishment, and Mr. Farmer’s tobacco and general shop, were little more than bare walls and debris, while another shop kept by Mr. Giles as an outfitting business, was in little better plight.
But the shops of Mr. Glasby’s butcher, and the branch of the Maypole Dairy Company had escaped except for little damage by water, but the last-named was open as usual later in the morning.
Rooms above the shops were well stocked with goods, including a large quantity of tobacco, chocolate, and other goods. Practically all these were destroyed.
At the rear of the shops were several tenements, and the families living in those where the fire was raging were aroused and had to make a hurried attempt to rescue their household effects, for the fire developed very rapidly, and the buildings soon became untenable.
One family—that of Mr. Harold Kirkham, his wife, and nine years old daughter, and his father—had no time to save much, losing almost all they had, including their savings.
When the firemen arrived they found the alley at the back of the buildings choked up with furniture and other things belonging to the people who had had to turn out of their homes, and this added to the difficulties of fire fighting.
Later in the morning friendly neighbours and friends were helping the homeless persons to get their goods and themselves into temporary house room near by.
A good deal of looting went on during the fire, and several alleged offenders were arrested.
The cause of the outbreak is unknown, and is now likely to remain a mystery, owing to the complete gutting of the parts where it originated.
The damage is very heavy. The property itself is extremely valuable, and the amount of stock consumed by the flames was worth a huge sum.
In addition, of course, the people who lived in the destroyed tenements have lost a good deal of furniture and other goods, as well as savings.
Though it is not possible to give any reliable estimate of the actual amount of the losses in cash terms, the figure must be one of several thousands of pounds.
The private property of the homeless families was unfortunately, we understand, not insured.
The photographs on another page give a very good idea of the devastating effect of the fire in the one case, and in the other show some of those who were driven out of their homes, with such of their household effects as they could find time to rescue.
Mr. William Gibbs, the licensee of the Denaby Main Hotel, at the end of the block in which the fire occurred, was one of the first on the spot and he and his staff rendered useful assistance.