Major fire breaks out in Hastings: Recap updates as they happened with eye-witness account
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Scroll down and click through to see a recap of what we know so far and live updates as they come in.
Major fire breaks out in Hastings
Key Events
- A building is on fire in Hastings, with thick black smoke billowing.
- The fire has broken out in a building adjacent to the railway station and multiple fire crews are at the scene.
- East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said ten appliances responded to the incident around 4.20pm.
Eye-witness account as incident ‘scaled back'
Good morning.
We are still waiting for an update from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service following yesterday’s major fire at the abandoned Queensbury House building.
Here is an eye-witness account from local resident, and student journalist, Daniel Burton: “At around 9pm, Havelock Road had reopened.
“There was a fire engine outside the front of the building along with a police car. The front of the building has been taped off.
“I saw firefighters going into the building next door, checking the building (Havelock Place). There is also a police car at the back of the building on Priory Street and a section of area had been taped off preventing people from accessing the back of the building.
“It is clear that the incident has been scaled back, but the building has been sealed off.”
What building is on fire?
The fire service said the fire started in a derelict property. This is the abandoned Queensbury House building.
According to the Historical Hastings website, Queensbury House was constructed on the site of number 1, Havelock Road (the Railway Hotel) during the mid 1960s.
The website added: “The prominent eight-storey building with a sub-basement on Priory Street has had a number of uses other than simply offices since its construction including residential usage, the most recent being a proposed conversion into a hotel with over 100 rooms in 2020. However the building proved to be structurally unstable, with the brick cladding falling - this leading to the building being slated for demolition in 2022.”
Read more: https://historymap.info/Queensbury_House
Multiple road closures in place
