Last time I dealt with a fire that completely destroyed a Flour Mill, two houses and part of a Timber Yard in Victoria Dock in 1910, and even though there were other fires during the first half of the 20. Century, one was not seen that could be compared with the fire at the Nelson Emporium on Friday afternoon, August 27. 1948.

It was whilst reading the front page of the Daily Express, on the following morning, in an R.A.F. camp near the city of York, that I became aware of it. The fire caused damage to over half the shops on one side of Bridge Street viz. The Hardy Home Cleaning service; George Olivers; Star Supply Stores; Nelson Emporium; E.B. Jones, Grocers; as well as the roof of the Ministry of Food Office.

One of the employees of the Nelson caught sight of smoke rising from the rear of the building at 3.30 pm. And phoned for the Fire Brigade. The shop was full of customers at the time, all of whom and including 50 staff had to evacuate the building, many of the latter having to leave their coats and other belongings behind.

The fire spread quickly and the Chief Fire Officer was forced to request help from other brigades and it took over 40 firemen from 8 brigades to bring the fire under control. They came from Conwy; Colwyn Bay; Llandudno; Bangor; Menai Bridge; Llanberis; Pwllheli and Porthmadog and by 8.30 pm. the fire was extinguished.

The Manager of Woolworths closed his store and sent his employees to assist in other shops to rescue as much of their stock as possible and piles of shoes, cartons and tins of food and even furniture were piled up outside the affected premises.

The damage caused to the front walls of the shops made them unsafe, and they were demolished. This resulted to the road being closed and all traffic diverted. The heat from the fire caused windows on the opposite side of the street to crack and the paint work severely blistered.

The loss of the Nelson was a serious blow to Caernarfon at the time. It was first opened in 1837 (the year Queen Victoria came to the throne), the owners at that time being Lewis Lewis & Co. They were followed by Morris & Davies, and when Mr. Morris died , a man called Brymer became a partner. The business was then bought by R.J. George & Co and finally by R.Lloyd Jones & Co.

One of the prized possessions rescued from the fire was an effigy of Lord Nelson that hung above the main entrance to the store.

One could easily relate the history of several large fires in Caernarfon during the last half century - the second fire at the Nelson for instance, as well as fires such as the one at the Herald Office on Castle Square and the building once known as the Majestic Cinema in Bangor Street, but space does not permit. I shall, therefore, end by dealing with one fire that I was requested to comment on last September, which is the fire at Messrs Hugheston-Roberts and Sons, Fellmongers, on August 29,. 1967.

Fortunately for me, Mr. Merfyn Hugheston-Roberts and I have been friends since our schooldays and when i asked him for the history of the fire he agreed at once, and the following morning he visited my home with a copy of the report in the Herald dated September 1. 1967, together with photos of the fire.

Mr. David J. Hughes, 59, Arvon Terrace was the first to call the Fire Brigade "I thought at first" he said "that smoke was coming from a chimney in the Pool Hill area, and then saw that it was coming from the Eryri Works, and immediately phoned for the Fire Brigade and the Police".

Assistant Divisional Officer J. Parry, who was responsible for fighting the fire up to the time when the Chief Fire Officer F.W. Hitchinson arrived, stated that the heat from the fire was terrific. The Warehouse was dangerously close to buildings belonging to Messrs Edward Hughes & Co. Builders Merchants, and there was an oil tank nearby that was likely to explode.

Other brigades from Bangor, Llanberis, Porthmadog and Llanfairfechan were called to assist in bringing the fire under control, and only two persons, Mr. And Mrs. Eben Parry, from Moriah Terrace were evacuated from their home.