Salvation Army given new base in St Ives after Christmas donations were destroyed by fire
Toys and food hampers were ruined in the blaze
The Salvation Army has been given a new base in St Ives after all of its Christmas donations were destroyed in a massive fire.
The blaze broke out on Wharf Road in the town on Friday at around 5pm and escalated overnight into Saturday morning.
More than 80 firefighters were called to the scene to tackle the flames, with crews from St Ives, Penzance, Perranporth, Hayle, Falmouth, St Just, Truro, Newquay, St Austell, Helston, St Dennis, Tolvaddon, Mevagissey, Wadebridge, Fowey, Bodmin and Padstow all involved.
The fire started in a restaurant and spread to the Salvation Army building, where the flames destroyed food hampers and toys which had been collected for a Christmas appeal.
"It was just awful, watching it unfold was horrendous.
"I went down on Saturday morning and got to go into the building, the restaurant where the fire started, the front of it you wouldn't have any idea, but when you look up it is totally decimated, there is no roof left.
"Inside the Salvation Army itself I found it really emotional, I went upstairs to see the room below the roof, all the hampers were there and the donations and toys, and it was all completely damaged and covered in black ash, and was soaking wet from the hoses."
Kirsty Arthur, Deputy Mayor of St Ives
Now the charity has been given access to the Guildhall to use as a new base for its Christmas appeal, so it can continue its work.
New donations have been flooding in from the local community already.
"We opened the Guildhall on the night of the fire, and used it as a refuge in case anybody needed to get to safety, and what we've found now is that it's the perfect base for the Salvation Army to carry on that amazing work that they were doing.
"People having been dropping off donations and filling up the hampers again, there really is no stopping the community spirit."
Kirsty Arthur, Deputy Mayor of St Ives
It comes after a fundraising appeal was set up to help replace the lost toys and food hampers.
And Pirate FM is donating toys from its Christmas Toy Appeal, Mission Christmas, to the Salvation Army.
The town's Deputy Mayor, Kirsty Arthur, tells us that the community spirit has been amazing.
"The response from the community was absolutely amazing, it was really overwhelming.
"St Ives, honestly the community here is second to none, we saw it in the summer with the Covid response and the way people rallied together to help everyone in the community. So I wasn't surprised by that, I knew everyone would help out.
"I just cannot thank the emergency services enough, they are everyday heroes, when you see it you just remember how heroic the whole thing is. I can't give enough thanks to them really."
Kirsty Arthur, Deputy Mayor of St Ives