British town to remember victims of long-forgotten fire

Officials in Britain have formally embraced a Canadian woman’s campaign to erect a memorial to the victims of a long-forgotten fire tragedy that killed 15 people – including one of her relatives – more than 80 years ago.

Barrie, Ont., resident Lori Oschefski was researching her family’s history when she learned about the death of her 12-year-old cousin in the Gillingham Fair Fire Disaster, a July 1929 inferno that turned a south England town’s most popular summer ritual – the simulated rescue of residents from a burning building – into an unimaginable horror.

Now, after more than a year of rallying relatives of other victims and lobbying the Medway municipality east of London, Oschefski has won the support of district politicians who approved the design of a commemorative sculpture to be installed early next year at the scene of the tragedy.

The monument features silhouettes of a firefighter and a child framing a plaque with a detailed account of the deadly incident and the names of those killed.

"On behalf of the surviving families and the victims of this tragedy, we are extremely pleased that this campaign has resulted in their graves being restored and the memorial plans going ahead," Oschefski, a 50-year-old dental hygienist, told Postmedia News this week. "The chosen design for the memorial is outstanding and will ensure that these lives will always be remembered."

Once the highlight of Gillingham’s annual fundraising fair for a local children’s hospital, the mock rescue of volunteer "victims" from a makeshift, three-story wooden structure by local firefighters had been performed safely for generations.

Smoke bombs were typically used to simulate a fire. After firemen helped the 20 or so occupants escape in an orchestrated display of skill and courage, a real blaze would be triggered to consume the structure in a dramatic finale to the community’s main summer festival.

But, on July 11, 1929, the fluid accelerant was accidentally ignited before the rescue was complete. While townsfolk watched in horror, 15 people – including several of the participating firefighters and nine children – perished in the flames.

Among the dead was 12-year-old Eric Cheeseman, the grandson of Oschefski’s own great-grandparents. After uncovering the story of the fire deaths through her genealogical research, Oschefski began inquiring with Gillingham-area officials about how the tragedy is commemorated in the town.

She discovered that the story had been largely "erased from the local history." While memories of the fire were etched deeply in the collective psyche of Gillingham’s older residents, Oschefski was told that no public commemoration of the event existed.

So, the Canadian set up a website, launched an online petition that attracted hundreds of supporters and began forging links with local history buffs in Britain.

Together, they pressed officials in Gillingham and the surrounding Medway district to create a permanent tribute to Eric and the 14 other fire victims, including the three firefighters who died rushing into the flames in an ill-fated rescue attempt.