Flashback

Former firefighter Neil Wallington remembers battling a deadly hotel blaze

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN outside the Worsley Hotel in Maida Vale, west London, in the early hours of 13 December 1974. I’m standing on the first-floor balcony and holding up two fingers to the senior officer on the pavement indicating that two of our colleagues were trapped in room 13 – another two were buried in the rubble.

The first call saying that the hotel was on fire came in at 3.32am. The building spanned several Victorian terraces: it wasn’t actually a hotel but was used by a hotel group to house their employees, 250 of whom were dotted across the six floors.

I was the station officer at Paddington Fire Station, commanding the Red Watch shift that night. When the call came through to the teleprinter, all four of our fire engines were mobilised to the scene, only about half a mile away.

It was a windy night and we smelt the fire before we saw it. You could see flames in windows at either end of the building and another in the middle. We later discovered that a disgruntled kitchen porter had lit three fires on different floors. He had also disabled some fire alarms. All the fire doors had been held open, which allowed the flames to spread.

When we arrived, people were screaming and hanging out of the windows. The stone staircases in the building had started to collapse because of the heat, so we were forced to use ladders.

We saved 32 people in the first 10 minutes. Some of the rescues were pretty hairy. One chap jumped into a tree; incredibly he was all right. Sadly, crews later discovered six bodies amid the smoke [the final death toll was seven].

After an hour, we pitched a 50ft escape ladder to room 13 on the second floor. I was to lead a firefighting team in, but at the last minute, Westminster’s station officer, Colin Searle, told me he would do it. The team of four going in included a young probationary firefighter called Hamish ‘Harry’ Pettit. I asked Colin to keep an eye on him.

After they entered, a water tank on the sixth floor collapsed, crashing down into the room. I saw a fireball flash out of the window and thought, ‘My God, there are four men in there.’

It took more than an hour to get the first two out – Colin and Tony Stewart were badly burned. Another team got to Martin Walker first, who was injured but alive. Harry Pettit was underneath him – he was dead.

When we had been relieved and were back at the station, I gathered Red Watch together and told them that Harry had died. The Fire Fighters Charity immediately offered support to Harry’s family, and to the three injured firefighters.

Red Watch came back on duty at 6pm on the following night. London’s chief fire officer addressed us at roll call. He said, ‘I know what you’re going through. I salute you for what you did.’ Then a call came in and we went off to work again.

The Worsley Hotel fire – London’s largest fire that year – saw the Queen award eight gallantry medals to the firefighters’ rescue team, the largest number of such awards ever given for actions at a peacetime incident. — Interview by Joe Shute The Fire Fighters Charity has been supporting our firefighters’ health and well-being since 1943. To donate through the Telegraph Christmas Charity Appeal for 2018, visit telegraph.co.uk/charity

I saw a fireball flash out of the window and thought, ‘My God, there are four men in there’

Neil Wallington (on balcony) and fellow firefighters at the scene of the Worsley Hotel fire