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Thanet Advrtiser, 21 August 1945.
SEVEN SAVED FROM BLAZING HOTEL - CHILD'S CRY GIVES ALARM DRAMATIC
RESCUES AT BROADSTAIRS.
But for the cry of a young child awakening her mother seven people
sleeping in the top storeys of a hotel on Broadstairs sea front might
have lost their lives when a serious fire broke out at the building in
the early hours of Tuesday morning last.
Unable to reach safety because the ground floor of the premises was
blazing furiously and the whole building was filled with dense smoke,
all the occupants were rescued by ladders brought to the scene by the
National Fire Service.
The fire occurred at the "Willmot Hotel," a four-storey building on the
corner of Victoria-parade and Chandos square. It was
three-and-a-half-year old Susan Sydes, sleeping at the rear of the
second floor, who first realised, at about 1am., that something was
wrong. Her bed faces the window looking out on the walls of another
hotel and there she could see the bright reflection of flames. Susan
immediately cried out to her mother Mrs. Edith Sydes, who jumped out of
bed and rushed to the window.
Looking down she saw the flames licking out from the windows of the
ground floor and even at her window the heat was terrific. Mrs. Sydes
opened the bedroom door where she was met by an alarming sight. Smoke
was rising up the stairs and although the turns in the flights hid the
fire from her sight, she could see the reflection of the flames. Very
quickly the acrid smoke increased and Mrs. Sydes realised it would be
impossible for herself and the other occupants to escape down the
stairs.
By that time she had called a man who was also sleeping on the second
floor and he gave the alarm to those on the top floor, Mrs. Pagniex, her
sister. Miss Joyce Arnold, a maid, and another man who was on holiday,
all of them were trapped one of the men leaned from a top-storey window
and shouted "Fire" until a policeman heard the cries. The police officer
immediately phoned the National Fire Service.
The firemen and their equipment arrived on the scene. With
Commanding-Officer Ogley in charge, they brought with them a pump
escape, salvage tender and turn-table ladder.
The Hotel was once owned by Frederick William George Weeks, who was also
a member of the Splendid Sparrows who raised money for good causes in
Broadstairs.
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