A fire which swept through popular pub, The Harewood End, last week was almost certainly not arson. Ray Rogers, district fire commander for Hereford told The Ross Gazette that fire service investigators had not discovered anything suspicious and had not come across anything untoward in their search of the site.
Two fire appliances from Ross, one from Hereford and one from Whitchurch attended the scene on Wednesday, January 17th. The alarm was raised at 7.40 am by the owner who lives opposite when he spotted smoke.
The fire had burned slowly for several hours before it was reported. This meant that by the time the fire crews arrived the blaze was quite spectacular. It was so fierce that it actually came through the windows.
The 25 fire-fighters, in teams wearing breathing apparatus, took some time to extinguish the fire and make the building safe. The blaze gutted the ground floor bar area and spread as far as the restaurant.
Ray Rogers said that it was very lucky the fire did not get into the roof and although the damage was extensive it can be repaired.
The pub is still standing and Mr Rogers said that is due to it being such a substantial old building. He said that the severity of such a fire to a modern building would have had very different results.