The Fire Engines have left now.

Well, it’s been a bit of a day at The Three Pigeons. What started out as a relatively simple task of welding the weather-vane back on to the top of the Osney Grange bell tower ended up with two fire engines and a dozen fire fighters. The problem was that sparks slipped down a small collar at the apex of the dome and ignited a century’s worth of tinder dry straw between the copper roof and the timber roof. We just couldn’t get enough water in there. It was key-hole fire-fighting!

The lady on the phone at the control centre didn’t really understand that the part of the building that was on fire wasn’t currently attached to the building that, in normal circumstances, it would be sitting on. I gave up trying to explain. She hit the red button anyway.

It was a bit of a challenge for the firemen too. The copper was getting hotter and hotter and the smouldering straw was clearly spreading. The firemen were very good at gently peeling back the roof and getting water in there and the damage has been surprisingly slight. The firemen seemed to enjoy the challenge as well as an entire ginger cake with their mugs of tea. They deserved it.

We did offer them the purchase (at discount) of our other cupolas for training purposes but they declined.