We want to get to know you more to help improve our service. Please take 2 minutes to fill out our survey here. Thank you! test2

Discover content and watch films on our latest and improved iOS app. Download it here!

This film is part of Free

Kingsbury: Buoyant Upholstery Fire and Incendiary Bomb

With thoughts of the dangers of the Blitz in people's minds, a local tragedy in Sandiacre brings preparations into stark focus.

Home movie 1940 4 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

A blaze that started in a storeroom at the Buoyant Upholstery factory on Bridge Street at Sandiacre in January 1940 leaves two people dead. These dramatic real-life scenes captured by film-maker Ivan Kingsbury are followed on the reel by a demonstration of how to extinguish a phosphorous incendiary bomb using sand and water. Vital skills that the local ARP need in an uncertain future that could produce even more deadly blazes.