The Massey Shaw fireboat at its first major riverside warehouse fire on the River Thames. The Colonial Wharf fire in Wapping High Street E1 occurred on 27 September 1935. It was the largest blaze that the London Fire Brigade had fought for a number of years. The nine-storey warehouse was full of crude rubber and it burned for four days, during which time a number of explosions took place. Sixty pumps and twenty special appliances plus three fireboats, manned by some 600 firefighters fought the huge blaze: they successfully prevented fire from spreading to the surrounding warehouses.