Forces Involved in Fighting The Fire
Apart from the several hundred firemen directly involved in fighting the fire, staff and tradesmen helped the Castle fire brigade and volunteer salvage corps members. They removed furniture and works of art from the endangered apartments, including a 150-foot (46 m) long table, and a 120-foot (37 m) long carpet from the Waterloo Chamber, to the safety of the castle Riding School. Also removed, in an enormous logistics exercise, were 300 clocks, a collection of miniatures, many thousands of valuable books and manuscripts, and old Master drawings from the Royal Library. On fire officers' instructions heavy chests and tables were left behind. All items were placed on giant sheets of plastic on the North Terrace and in the Quadrangle, and the police called in dozens of removal vans from a large part of the Home Counties to carry items to other parts of the Castle.
Others of the Castle staff involved included Major Barry Eastwood, Castle Superintendent (head of administration), and the Governor of the Castle, General Sir Patrick Palmer. The staff of St. George's Chapel and Estate workers also assisted in various ways.
Members of the Royal Household helped, including the Lord Chamberlain and the Earl of Airlie. The Royal Collection Department were especially active, including the Director Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue, the Surveyor of Pictures Christopher Lloyd, the Deputy Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art Hugh Roberts, the Curator of Print Room the Hon Mrs Roberts, and Librarian Oliver Everett.
The Household Cavalry arrived from Combermere Barracks, St Leonard's Road, Windsor. Some 100 officers and men of the Life Guards also proved invaluable for moving bulky items. Officers of the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department, led by Chief Inspector KR Miller, were also present.
Elizabeth II had been advised of the fire by a mobile phone call from Prince Andrew, Duke of York. The Duke had been in the mews across the Quadrangle from the State Apartments, doing research work for his course at the Staff College, Camberley when the fire broke out.
The Queen arrived at 3 pm and stayed at the castle for an hour, returning again the following morning. The Prince of Wales visited in the evening and The Duke of York briefed the press at 3 pm.
Read more about this topic: 1992 Windsor Castle Fire
Famous quotes containing the words forces, involved, fighting and/or fire:
“Is there something in trade that dessicates and flattens out, that turns men into dried leaves at the age of forty? Certainly there is. It is not due to trade but to intensity of self- seeking, combined with narrowness of occupation.... Business has destroyed the very knowledge in us of all other natural forces except business.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)
“Forty years after a battle it is easy for a noncombatant to reason about how it ought to have been fought. It is another thing personally and under fire to have to direct the fighting while involved in the obscuring smoke of it.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
““Oh, the fighting races don’t die out,
If they seldom die in bed,
For love is first in their hearts, no doubt,””
—Joseph I. C. Clarke (1846–1925)
“To awake your dormouse valor, to put fire in your heart, and brimstone in your liver.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)