What is an inferno?

Last year, my son covered the Great Fire of London at school. It was very immersive – they went to Pudding Lane, climbed the Monument (almost derailing the day when he forgot to count the steps…), and built model tudor houses.

However, he decided it was possible to take this to the next level. He wanted to re-enact the fire –  under very controlled conditions of course.

He very nicely asked his teacher for the model tudor house template, photocopied it thirty times, asked us to help him painstakingly construct them all… and then left them on the table for about a month.

Of course, as safety supervisor, it was difficult give the go ahead given the warm and windy conditions seen over the summer.

But finally, the weather conditions were perfect. The houses were finally transferred from the table to the barbecue. Everyone had a role – my son was the commentator and background music, my daughter was elected firefighter with hose poised, my husband was the fire lighter, and I was the videographer.

After a few false starts, it was off.

The kids watched in awe, and (I’m glad to report) a bit of fear. It made me realise they’ve not seen a lot of fires. A bit different to my childhood when we had a coal burner (the top of which was a prized spot during the winter), and regularly used to set light to rubbish we had on the farm. I’m in denial over the extent this adds to my carbon footprint.

Part way through, my son thought of a fire break. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any dynamite (accuracy is apparently important), nor any time.

It didn’t take long for there to be just a pile of ash… lesson learned?