Nosher arrives as the fire is still quite small
Uni: The Fire-Bombing of Dingles, Plymouth, Devon - 19th December 1988
Whilst watching the TV, there's a newsflash that the Dingles department store, in the heart of Plymouth, is on fire - a fact verified by peering out of the bedroom window in Stonehouse and seeing the smoke a couple of miles away. This requires an impromptu trip on the bike with the camera to take a closer look and once there, in the days before the Nanny State, there's not much of a cordon so it's easy to get close enough to feel the heat from the flames and to hear several explosions from within the building. The fire-bombing was eventually claimed by animal rights activists, who had set some small incendiary devices in the dress section. They had apparently intended just to damage some stock, but hadn't factored in the lack of sprinklers in that part of the store, leading to a fire which just kept going until it had destroyed the top two floors of the building - damage which cost £20 million to repair. There is some repetition in this set of photos, but it was a newsworthy event so they are here for the sake of completion and documentation.
Soundtrack for this album:
next album: Uni: A Dinner Party, Harbertonford and Buckfastleigh, Devon - 24th December 1988
previous album: Uni: Kate, A Lampshade and the Trees of Duloe, Plymouth and Cornwall - 2nd December 1988
Smoke billows out of the roof
There's quite a crowd watching the smoke
The fire spreads
The fire on third floor is spreading
The top-floor fire gets worse
Crowds look on as the flames get hotter
The crowds hang around
Ladder-mounted hoses douse the flames
A fire hose sprays down into the flames
Hot blue flames burst out of the top floor of Dingles
More intense fire and hot blue flames
A fireball
Flames curl out of the top floor
The smouldering roof of Dingles
A dude stands on the roof of the opposite building
The next morning, the devastation is clear
Crowds mill around and discuss the damage
Hint: you can use the left and right cursor keys to navigate between albums, and between photos when in the photo viewer
Nosher arrives as the fire is still quite small
Nosher arrives as the fire is still quite small
Smoke billows out of the roof
There's quite a crowd watching the smoke
The fire spreads
The fire on third floor is spreading
The top-floor fire gets worse
Crowds look on as the flames get hotter
The crowds hang around
Ladder-mounted hoses douse the flames
A fire hose sprays down into the flames
Hot blue flames burst out of the top floor of Dingles
More intense fire and hot blue flames
A fireball
Flames curl out of the top floor
The smouldering roof of Dingles
A dude stands on the roof of the opposite building
The next morning, the devastation is clear
Crowds mill around and discuss the damage