Bird in Hand Pub fire

Surprised there’s nothing on here yet… was just texted by neighbours.
One man walked to ambulance so ok I guess. That’s all I know so far.

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Saw pic on Twitter as was concerned. Glad to hear saw someone walking out hopefully all ok & under control. Just heard Mon & Ace ok phew!!!

Some more pictures have been posted on twitter

Also this from the London Fire Brigade’s twitter feed

Walked past it on my way to the station. Loads of rubber neckers hanging around

From the other end of Bird-in-Hand Passage this morning

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I find this so sad-especially after so long being unable to trade due to lockdown.
even though I have never been to the pub I assume the owners must live upstairs and so this involves possible loss of home and business.
As long as nobody was hurt thats the main thing and my heart goes out to all involved.

The following report says the owners live above the pub and by the sound of it were very lucky to escape.

A second article has a few more eyewitness statements:

Really scary stuff and I hope everyone is okay and recovers quickly.

The man who rescued the barman is an utter hero!
So brave as is the woman who also tried to help.
Very scary-but thank god the people who lived there got out.

100% - going into a burning, smoke filled building like that without any protective gear. Real real danger and bravery and looks like he saved that person’s life - amazing.

He should be given a bravery award. He was a hero that for sure.

agree 100%!

South London News has tracked down the hero and interviewed him in the following article, where he recalls entering the burning building and pulling out the publican:

It truly sounds terrifying, a very lucky escape, and while it’s not generally advised to enter a burning building, this guy deserves a medal.

Definitely deserves a medal. In a country where the word hero has been misued and diminished so much, this was a truely heroic act.

Although I had to smile at the thought that “South London News” had tracked him down. Following their first report, where they described him as a “regular”, Mr O’Rourke replied via the the paper’s comments section that he’d never been in the pub before and describing the actual sequence of events. Mr O’Rourke’s comments promptly appeared in the SLP’s online comments section.

Yet in their subsequent reports the SLP kept putting out an appeal to help them find the hero, despite having his email details and him having already contacted the paper. I contacted them via online form myself to point that out, but they carried in regardless of what was under their nose all the time. It felt bit like shouting “she’s behind you,” at John Sergeant.

Someone should set up a fundraiser or something so he can take his family for a nice holiday since the article mentions he took no holiday last year due to all the extra funerals because of Covid