| IT HAPPENED at York Minster in 1984. The York fire was attributed either to the recent appointment of the theologian Professor David Jenkins as Bishop of Durham, or to the General Synod’s first step, taken the previous day, towards women priests. Lightning, however, was a more probable cause.
Fire-and-rescue is a big issue in cathedrals, and Salisbury has recently had a successful emergency exercise. At the end of evensong, two smoke generators simulated an explosion where contractors were working in the roof which would injure two (above right), kill one, and trap a group of visitors on the north parapet of the tower.
Down below, in the evacuation of the (volunteer) evensong congregation by the vergers, two were said to be injured, one with a broken leg. Fire engines from Salisbury, Amesbury, Wilton, Tisbury, and Fordingbridge all came rushing, together with the control unit from Devizes, and a specialist unit from Warminster with an “aerial appliance” — the Fire Service’s name for a cherry-picker extended ladder.
People were rescued down flights of stairs away from the “fire”. The injured were treated, the dummy body discreetly removed, and the source of the fire dealt with. It all went very smoothly, and showed that the evacuation procedures work, and the emergency services could find their way round a complex building.
The only hitch, said Brigadier Mark Elcomb, the Chapter Clerk, was that the fire alarm went off too soon, during genuine evensong, and the congregation, with the Bishop, had to be evacuated just as they were about to sing the Nunc Dimittis; but they were soon back to complete the service.
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