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A great fire occurred last night at the South Eastern Railway Station Dover, making a complete ruin of the long range of offices from the station wing of the Lord Warden Hotel to the upper end of the refreshment rooms. The fire originated in the roof over the passage adjoining the lamp room just above the parcel office that is at the lower end of the platform.

A few minutes before eight o’clock George Singleton while standing at the Lord Warden corner, saw smoke issuing from the top of the station, which he thought proceeded from a chimney fire. He promptly ran into the station and warned the porters but on his going to the lamp room over which the smoke appeared no sign of fire was there. A trap hatch was forced open and in the roof above the lamp room the fire was discovered. The opinion of those who saw it first was that it originated in a chimney. An effort was made to subdue the flames with a hand pump (which is used in the station for washing the windows) but without effect. Soon after a hose was fixed to a standpipe and an effort was made with that but the force of water was not the least bit effective. There was great difficulty in getting at the fire from below and it was a work of time and labour to find a way of attacking it from above.

Over the burning wood was a covering of zinc and above that slates. This double roof was broken through and by the time that was accomplished a communication had been made with the water in Beach Street the hose carried up ladders and the fire attacked from above. While those were rendering first aid as promptly as possible on the spot the alarm spread. The Fire Brigade came down under the command of Superintendent T. O. Sanders. Soldiers of the regiments at the Western Heights and the Artillery from the Castle came down at the double. Guards were being promptly organised round the station to preserve property and to keep a clear way for the firemen.

Inside the station a fire engine was at work on the platform fighting the fire through the windows and a manual pump was also being used with the same object. On the raised platform on the seaward side of the station was placed the South Eastern Company’s fire engine with hose attached but for some reason it was idle “something wrong with the works” was the explanation of the bystanders. Telegrams were sent to Folkestone and Canterbury for aid, and by the boat train the Captain of the Canterbury Fire Brigade came down in all the glory of a shining brass helmet while his engine, starting at the same time by road drove into Dover at 11.30 but was not needed.

In the meantime the fire had made great ravages fortunately it did not turn into the direction of the Lord Warden Hotel, which has bedrooms over the lower part of the station. By ten o’clock the lamp room over which the fire began was gutted and the large booking office was a mass of glowing fire. At the same time the flames were travelling along the roof over the waiting rooms and the telegraph office, the operations of the firemen having little power to check it. The raging fire looked at from the interior of the station had a weird aspect the gas being all extinguished and in the lurid light from the flames could be seen the gangs of soldiers, police and porters fighting the fire demon.

Crash! Crash! At intervals came down the burning roof distributing showers of fire. Smash! Smash! Went the great plate glass windows as the burning timber became dislodged and crashed through them. Slowly the fire worked its way up the long-range building. By 11 p.m. the booking and telegraph offices and the waiting rooms were transformed into an open court of blackened walls. Working its way through the station residence the refreshment rooms were reached and engulfed in the flames by 11.30. Firemen on the roof were attacking it with a hose supplied from a fire engine worked by soldiers at the top of the Beach Street and from the platform of the station regardless of the burning material that was falling another set of firemen with an engine attached to it. A stiff breeze had then arisen and the fire was continually breaking out in fresh places. At that time the appliances for combating the fire were in full swing and the “devouring element” with hose to the right of it, hose to the left of it, and a hose in front of it had very little chance to continue its wild career. The volume of fire that half an hour before midnight was raging in the refreshment rooms being attacked front and rear was gradually subdued. Soon after midnight the flames were completely got under and by one o’clock the fire was really out, although some of the engines kept playing to prevent an outbreak until about 5 o’clock this morning.

When the light of day broke over the building the poor old South-Eastern looked a pitiful wreck. There appears to be no doubt but that the fire originated in the roof over the lamp room. It is a fortunate thing that the wind drove it away from that part of the premises for just under where it broke out are still lying half a dozen large barrels of oil that escaped ignition. In the passage leading to the lamp room there is overhead a trap door or a manhole made for reaching a space in the roof which exists between the lower wooden roof and the upper zinc and slate covering. The space in which the gas pipes were laid seems to have been open from end to end like a tunnel. When the fire got into this no doubt it burnt the gas pipes asunder and then the flames would go up it like a flue accounting for the rapid spread of ignition all up the top of the building.

With regard to the force for combating with the fire the great want was an effective hose in the hands of the station people at the beginning. The one they had was too short and the supply of water not half strong enough or the fire might have been knocked out at the start. Afterwards there was plenty of help. There were two engines in the station and two outside in Beach Street as well as hose playing from hydrants in the street. Superintendent Sanders and his men did all that that could have been done and the work was ably seconded by the military. Major General Lord William Seymour was promptly on the spot, also Colonel Gratton and Major Dowling. Quarter Master Sergeant Jarvis also did good service. When the Royal Artillery took their engine away at one o’clock the commanding officers was good enough to leave two pickets to assist Superintendent Sanders in keeping order.

The building is insured in the Phoenix Fire Office. The train service was not much interrupted there being free lines for the trains to go down on the south side of the station all the time. Two boat trains ran through while the station was alight. No doubt the Railway Company will now carry out their original intention and build a new station on the site of Beach Street in accordance with the provisions of their special act. It is roughly estimated that it will cost from £6,000 to £7,000 to make good the damage done last night. (1892)