Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Cleaning fluid blamed for castle fire Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 15:07:21 EST Message-ID: Lines: 64 \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Cleaning fluid blamed for castle fire \BY REUTERS \DT LONDON LONDON (Reuters) - The fire that consumed part of Windsor Castle started when a halogen lamp ignited fluid used for cleaning paintings, British newspapers reported today. The reports, quoting unnamed fire investigators, said the liquid accidentally spilled onto the lamp, causing a fireball that swept through a section of the castle, the seat of English sovereigns for 850 years. The newspaper accounts said Friday's inferno started in a room where four art restorers were cleaning paintings for rehanging. The site was identified as either the royal family's private chapel or the nearby Crimson Room. "Flames leapt from the surface of the 250-watt halogen lamp to a nearby curtain, which turned into a giant taper spreading the fire through the northeast wing," the Daily Express said. The 30-hour blaze gutted several rooms, including St. George's Hall, a state banquet room. Officials at Buckingham Palace said the disaster could have been far worse had it not been for an "enormous stroke of luck" that spared virtually all the treasures that make up the world's largest private art collection. The palace said the seven most seriously damaged rooms at the castle west of London had been emptied of artworks for electrical rewiring work before the fire began. As the blaze spread, priceless heirlooms were hastily cleared from other threatened chambers in the 1,000-room castle by a human chain of workers. Restoration of the gutted wing will take years. News reports put the cost of structural repairs at about $92 million, which, under present arrangements, the government will pay. National Heritage Secretary Peter Brooke was expected to inform Parliament of repair plans today. He will probably face tough questioning from opposition Labor members of parliament who believe the queen, one of the world's richest women, should pay the bulk of the bill. Questions also have been raised about fire precautions at Windsor, which like other royal palaces is exempt from fire regulations. The blaze was the second at a palace in six years. Apartments at Hampton Court, south of London, were recently reopened after $18-million worth of repairs following a 1986 fire. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM