One terrible night a loft room at the top of the boarding house caught fire. The tenant and his girlfriend had been drinking and they knocked over a paraffin heater. They both died. I remember showing the firemen how to get onto the roof so they could break through to the room. During the 1950s and 60s paraffin heaters were a popular form of heating. They were cheap and you could buy paraffin from local shops. I remember Esso had a popular TV ad for Esso Blue paraffin at the time. But paraffin heaters could be dangerous and fires were not uncommon.