Eyewitness Account Of Bermudiana Blaze
When its doors opened in 1924, the Bermudiana Hotel was billed in promotional literature released by Bermuda’s Trade Development Board as not only the last word in luxury but also as “fire-proof.”
Three decades later those words came back to haunt Bermuda tourism authorities in much the same way the White Star Line later regretted its boast about the ”Titanic” being “unsinkable.”
By 1958, the Bermudiana — built by the Furness-Withy shipping line but by this point owned by British industrialist Sir Harold Wehrner — was well past its prime.
Perched on a hill overlooking Hamilton Harbour with its waterfront rooms offering panoramic views, there was an air of faded opulence and advancing decrepitude about the Bermudiana.
As early as 1955 the Trade Development Board, predecessor to the Bermuda Tourism Ministry, had started pressuring Sir Harold to replace the Bermudiana with a “new and modernly equipped hotel of Bermudian design and appearance.”
The British businessman had demurred. Until fate intervened.
On September 4, 1958 ZBM broadcaster Cliff Morris was returning to the studio — then based in Hamilton — when he witnessed the beginning of what would be the Bermudiana’s end.
“A few weeks after its inauguration in January 1958, ZBM television enjoyed a stroke of good fortune; the hotel across the street burned down,” he recalled. “It was a simple matter to poke a camera out the window and televise the entire thing to a rapt audience.
The Bermudiana Hotel Shortly After Its Opening In 1924
“I happen to have played a small part in the demise of the Bermudiana Hotel. I’d got my hands on an 8mm movie camera and [while] walking back to the radio station I noticed a small funnel of smoke spiraling from a maintenance structure on the roof of the hotel. I shot some film of it and wondered why no one was trying to put it out.
“Then, I ran into ZBM to try to scare up some concern. They had a look, wondered why no one was trying to put the fire out, and called the fire department.”
Vehicles from Bermuda’s then all-volunteer fire brigade soon arrived, later supplemented by emergency vehicles from Kindley AirForce Base at the East End.
But by that point the entire top floor was engulfed in flames.
“Poised dramatically in the street with camera humming, I captured the arrival of the clanging fire engines,” said Mr. Morris. “[There followed] 20 minutes of head-scratching and running around in circles. The problem? No fire hydrant.
The Bermudiana Hotel Is Consumed By Fire
“A ladder was finally raised and a fireman struggled to the top rung with hose in hand, while the end of another hose was dropped into an out of service, half-filled swimming pool next to the radio station. The idea was to pump that water up the ladder to the waiting hoseman.
“The island’s populace, riveted to their TV sets, rooted for their firefighters, but what finally came out of that hose [was] a feeble drizzle which fell straight down onto the hotel’s soon-to-be doomed flower beds.
“By the time pressure was raised the second floor was a flat-out loss.”
Soon the entire hotel was engulfed in a spectacular blaze.
“It made great television,” said Mr. Morris, who later went on to a broadcasting career in Michigan.
The Bermudiana’s 215 guests were all safely evacuated along with the management and staff.
Vintage Postcard of The Old Bermudiana Hotel In Its Glory Days
The entire hotel was consumed by flames — the cost of the damage was estimated at $14 million — and the ruins smoked for the next four days
“[After] the fire was out, I filmed the remaining pile of twisted steel and smoking rubble, happy to have been witness to the huge event,” said Mr. Curtis. “But I’m sorry to say, I lost that precious film somewhere along life’s fiery path.”
A new, 237-room Bermudiana rose from the ashes of the old hotel and was opened in 1960.
Largely constructed of steel and glass, while the Trade Development Hotel got a new hotel it was hardly of “Bermudian design and appearance.”
The hotel went out of business in the 1990s and was later demolished to make way for the ACE and XL re/insurance office blocks.
Bermudiana Fire Photograph Courtesy Of Schinel Outerbridge
