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20th anniversary of fire that destroyed library
It is 20 years ago today that fire destroyed one of the region's biggest libraries,
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Marking the 20th anniversary of the Norwich library fire
It's been exactly twenty years ago since fire ravaged one of the region's biggest libraries.
On August the 1st, 1994 over a thousand books were destroyed including ancient manuscripts when the building went up in flames.
At the height of the fire smoke could be seen 20 miles away. Amazingly no-one was hurt.
- Malcolm Robertson
20 years on: the fire that destroyed one of our biggest libraries
It is exactly 20 years ago that fire destroyed one of the region's biggest libraries.
August 1st 1994 is a day those in the centre of Norwich will never forget.
Tens of thousands of books and documents were lost as firefighters took eight hours to bring the blaze under control - but thankfully priceless records and manuscripts were saved.
David Ashworth was one of the 200 firefighters drafted in to deal with the emergency. It's just about one of the biggest incidents he's had to tackle.
The fire was started by an electrical fault. At the time, Dennis Whitehead was a local photographer. He remembers getting the call from his office.
Thankfully vital documents which were stored in the basement survived.
In its place now is Norwich's eye-catching Forum - a £65m project completed in 2001 to mark the Millennium.