Robert Pritchard

On discovery of a fire in a warehouse used as a cooperage in Plumbe Street in the Liverpool Docklands, the alarm was passed to the police fire station from where nine engines and water tanks immediately proceeded to the location.

The building, which was situated in a back yard filled with staves, reached the height of two stories. The fire had made considerable progress before it was discovered and on the arrival of the engines the flames were raging so furiously that the dwelling houses at the back and an adjoining warehouse were in imminent danger. As densely crowded as the buildings were and being in close proximity to the premises in which the fire originated, the primary effort of the brigade was to confine the fire to the original building and prevent it spreading.

A number of the firemen were amongst the ruins and standing immediately in front of the warehouse as a wall began to collapse, but before three of the crew could escape they were buried in the ruins. Attempts were immediately made to rescue them and they were all recovered from the rubble. The three men were taken to the Northern Hospital, where Police Fireman Pritchard died the following day.