Fundraiser smashes target after Salvation Army donations destroyed in St Ives fire
More than 80-firefighters tackled the blaze which has been described as "heartbreaking"
A fundraising appeal that was set up after a fire in St Ives destroyed a Salvation Army building and its Christmas donations has smashed its target.
The blaze broke out on Wharf Road in the town on Friday at around 5pm.
As the evening went on the incident was escalated and more than 80 firefighters were called to the scene to tackle the flames.
Crews from St Ives, Penzance, Perranporth, Hayle, Falmouth, St Just, Truro, Newquay, St Austell, Helston, St Dennis, Tolvaddon, Mevagissey, Wadebridge, Fowey, Bodmin and Padstow were all involved.
Over 80 firefighters tackle a blaze at a commercial property in St Ives
The fire spread the Salvation Army building and destroyed food hampers and toys which had been collected for a Christmas appeal.
But the local community rallied round and started a fundraising campaign with the aim of raising £1,000 to replace the damaged items.
As of Monday morning the fundraiser is currently at over £28,000.
You can find the Just giving page here.
Eyewitness saw the flames rip through buildings
Pub owner Kate Smith saw the fire take hold, and has described the scene as "heartbreaking".
She said: "The wind was just swirling from every direction imaginable, the flames were just blowing all over the place, it must have been really treacherous for them.
"You could see the smoke building in the Salvation Army, they've worked incredibly hard to get the donations and bits they have, seeing it hit their building and going through was the worst bit, truly heartbreaking.
"There was a lot of donations that had been put in that they had been collecting for the local community, so that was actually really heartbreaking to see.
"And you knew that the firefighters had done their utmost to try and protect the surrounding buildings, so it must have been really soul destroying for them as well.
"This year has been horrible for everybody already, especially for businesses, the timing couldn't have been any worse."
Kate Smith, eyewitness
A timeline of what happened
At 17:09 on the 4th December a call was received to a call from a property on Wharf road in St Ives. Initially crews from St Ives, Penzance and Hayle were initially mobilised to the scene. Soon after arriving at the property a request for ‘Make Pumps 6’ was made and further appliances from Penzance and Perranporth were mobilised to the scene.
The incident escalated and at 22:20 the request for ‘Make pumps 12 and Aerial Ladder Platforms 2’ was made. Appliances were mobilised to the scene from across the county along with various supporting appliances and Flexi duty officers. Specialist equipment included Aerial Ladder Platforms, Incident Command Units, Breathing Apparatus Support Unit, Welfare vehicle, High Volume Pump, Environmental Response Vehicle and the Red Cross Emergency Response vehicle.
At 22:20 a request for Make pumps 12 was made additional appliances were mobilised to the scene.
At 23:00 six additional appliances were mobilised to the scene as relief pumps for the incident.
As of 04:30 on Saturday the incident was being scaled back and firefighters entered the building wearing breathing apparatus, cutting away and damping down.
The incident began scaling down, up until this time appliances from St Ives, Penzance, Hayle, Perranporth, Falmouth, St Just, Truro, Newquay, St Austell, Helston, St Dennis, Tolvaddon, Mevagissey, Wadebridge, Fowey, Bodmin and Padstow had attended the incident.
Other stations used included Mullion, St Keverne and Polruan who provided strategic strategic cover.
An initial fire investigation was carried out on Saturday to identify the cause of the fire.