A fire ripped through St Andrew's Church, Leicester, overnight, partially destroying the roof of the building on the corner of Jarrom Street and Gateway Street. Smoke billowed across Leicester as the blaze developed, and people nearby were told to shut their doors and windows.
The church fire was believed to have started at around 1am. Footage showed smoke rising from the north transept, flames inside the roof and a turntable ladder pouring water onto the building from above, while multiple fire engines and police cars lined the street.
Jarrom Street and Gateway Street
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said there was an incident on Jarrom Street sending smoke over the city. That left people in Leicester dealing with the smell and the view of the fire from across the city centre, including one Reddit user who said they could “smell and see the fire from my flat on other side of the city centre.”
Another Reddit user said the smoke was “stinking out” the city centre, while social media users also described the smell as “burning plastic.” Those reports match the way the fire spread outward from the church itself rather than staying contained inside the building.
Sir George Gilbert Scott
St Andrew's was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s. The church is part of a body of work that included some 800 buildings in his lifetime, mostly churches and chapels, alongside the Midland Grand Hotel at London’s St Pancras Station, the Albert Memorial and the Foreign Office.
That background gives the fire a sharper edge for people in Leicester: a building designed in the 1860s was still vulnerable to a blaze that reached the roof and sent smoke across the city overnight. The immediate concern for nearby residents was simple — keep doors and windows shut until the smoke cleared.
