An outbreak of fire in the roof and first floor of a property in Fishmarket Road on Wednesday July 20 was reported no less than 17 times in repeat calls to the East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service. Believed to have been caused by an electrical fault, the fire broke out at around 3:30 pm causing severe damage to the building and further damage to the adjoining properties – taking nearly two hours to extinguish with the help of appliances from Rye, Broad Oak, The Ridge and Bohemia Road in Hastings, Battle and Lydd including a mobile access platform spraying water from above.
The house, which has been for sale for a while, has very recently been sold and sadly giving the new owners a rather different sort of housewarming than they might have expected. Fortunately there were no causalties but, a rescue team, equipped with masks and breathing apparatus had been on hand, should they have been needed.
The A259 was closed in both directions and despite good co-ordinated work by the police in diverting traffic at the Skinners and Kettle of Fish roundabouts, traffic through the town itself was soon at a standstill. The traffic conditions were made worse, when, at the same time as the Fishmarket Road fire, a man had a suspected heart attack on Rye Hill and was taken by air ambulance to hospital resulting in that road being subject to restrictions for some time while the emergency services attended to him.
The knock-on effects of the road closures continued into the evening. Holiday-makers and workers in Camber, trying to get the last bus back to Rye and Hastings at 8:25pm were forced to wait a further half-hour while an ambulance, attending to another lady heart attack victim, effectively blocking the road. Having finally boarded the bus, the passengers must have thought their problems were over, only to find that, with Fishmarket Road still closed, the only entrance into the Town was via Deadman’s Lane, unsuitable, of course, for buses. Those coming to Rye had to get out and walk the final stage of their journey while Hastings-bound passengers had to endure a lengthy diversion via Peasmarsh. Even here there had been trouble, with two vehicles in collision earlier, and, to round off a long day for the emergency services, there was a further fire in Udimore.
photos: Kenneth Bird, Madelein Eve