The Sunderland department store fire which could be seen from passing trains
What a sight that must have been for train passengers in Sunderland as they watched a fire break out in one of Wearside’s biggest department stores.
Binns in Fawcett Street, Sunderland, was alight in August 1981 and the smoke from a third floor window could be seen by travellers on trains leaving the nearby station.
It spread to the main staircase
The building could have been burned down but for the sprinkler system, a fire chief said at the time
The fire started in a chip pan in the restaurant kitchen and spread to the main staircase before the sprinklers came into action.
‘If it had not been for the sprinkler system the fire would spread along the floor’
“If it had not been for the sprinkler system the fire would spread along the floor and it would have been well alight when we got there, ” said Sub-Officer Dave Ford.
“It could have burned down the whole building and there’s no doubt a major fire was averted by the system.”
Train passengers looked on as smoke appeared at a third floor window overlooking Sunderland railway station. Flames began to appear at the window as alarm bells rang and people started to leave the building.
25 firefighters on the scene
About 25 firemen and five fire appliances were on the scene in minutes. Three men at the top of a turntable ladder directed a jet at the kitchen and had the flames out almost immediately and the whole fire damped out within ten minutes.
The fire was spotted by Mr Michael Naugher, 29, who raised the alarm and saved the fire brigade vital seconds.
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