This afternoon at work we became aware of the strong smell of smoke from somewhere outside our office building. I volunteered to go out and check that there was not a fire in or near a building we managed.Eventually I came across the source which was a fire in the large Sikh Temple and community centre in Harley Grove, Bow, E3 (about 500m away from our office).
I have never in my life seen such a major fire in person. The emergency services had the situation well in hand and the area around the Temple was cordoned off while fire crews tried to put the fire out (or rather control the flames). It was pretty dramatic when the roof collapsed and there was a wall of flames and smoke. The noise was unexpected and pretty frightening.
The Temple is adjacent to the Malmesbury Estate (Bow South) which is now run by the ALMO Tower Hamlets Homes. There were a number of people watching what was going on and you could see everyone was sombre and horrified about what they were witnessing. We all have a primeval fear of fire I think.
Thankfully no-one was apparently hurt. See the East London Advertiser online report. I had worked in the Council housing office directly opposite the Temple for 3 years in the 1990’s. There were some very ugly rumours going around about the cause of the fire which I very much hope are wrong.
There was scaffolding up on the rear of the building which indicates building works were being undertaken and so there may have been an accidental cause.
I think everyone present was very appreciative of the work done by the London Fire Brigade and the Police.
7 comments:
It was Arson. Sikh female worshipper saw and confronted the man.
I think you will find it is still being investigated by the Police and LFB. Please dont jump to conclusions until you know the finer details or even the truth.
Inocent until proven guilty.
this is dreadful to think anyone will be sick enough to do this terrifies me.....its disguisting....i honestly can;t beleive it!!!!!!!!!!1
Let's see how the police handle this. Jewish people are consistently targeted and that goes largely unreported, Christian priests have been violently attacked and now a Sikh temple has become a target. It seems that only incidents against Muslim people require a quick resolution by the police
Sikhs aren't Muslim...
anonymous does not know as stated by the a previous post that Sikhs and Muslims are different. All white people are not English. Some are Irish, Scottish, American, ETC. Lets get educated. Targeting any group for racial reasons is wrong. The police should take all such incidents seriously. That is why hate crimes have longer sentences. If the police will not do it's job to protect innocent people then people will take the law into their own hands. One has the right to defend oneself from being punched in the head twenty times by a skin head. That is my opinion.
sort of agree anon
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