Description
Firefighters at Smithfield Market in London. Two firefighters lost their lives in a tragic blaze at Union Cold Storage Co. at Smithfield Market, which broke out on 23 January in 1958. The fire burned for three days in the centuries-old labyrinth, which ultimately collapsed. According to news reports at the time, when the first fire engines arrived, thick acrid smoke was pouring out of the market’s maze of underground tunnels leading to cold storage rooms. A Station Officer and a firefighter headed down into the dense smoke, never to be seen alive again. https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/ 23 January in 1958. photograph by Frank Rust Northcliffe Collection