:00:13. > :00:16.Good evening. news at ten o'clock -
:00:17. > :00:20.After 36 hours, firefighters believe a blaze at a hotel which has stood
:00:21. > :00:23.in the heart of Exeter for centuries is now under control.
:00:24. > :00:26.As you may have seen the Royal Clarence today began
:00:27. > :00:28.to collapse in a square described as of national significance.
:00:29. > :00:30.We've been at the scene since early yesterday.
:00:31. > :00:34.First tonight our home affahrs correspondent Simon Hall.
:00:35. > :00:37.Throughout the night, fire crews fought the blaze.
:00:38. > :00:40.It was being fed by a ruptured gas main and a danger the fire
:00:41. > :00:44.could spread to Exeter high street lingered.
:00:45. > :00:47.As morning came, the gas was stemmed and slowly,
:00:48. > :00:53.The Royal Clarence is lost, but there is confidence the high
:00:54. > :01:04.We're certainly in a much better place than we were.
:01:05. > :01:07.We've made huge strides tod`y and put a lot of resources hnto it
:01:08. > :01:09.and we are relatively confident that we are dealing
:01:10. > :01:13.On the other side of the hotel, Exeter high street.
:01:14. > :01:15.It is the focus of much of the firefighting effort.
:01:16. > :01:18.Thousands of gallons of watdr were sprayed here to try
:01:19. > :01:22.This should give you an ide` of how close the fire came
:01:23. > :01:26.We're standing on the roof of the Laura Ashley building.
:01:27. > :01:36.Where the scaffolding is, is where the fire started.
:01:37. > :01:39.where the fire ripped across the roof and then spread
:01:40. > :01:42.to the Royal Clarence, just there, which as you can see
:01:43. > :01:43.is just metres from the Laura Ashley building.
:01:44. > :01:46.There were no deaths and no injuries, except to the historic
:01:47. > :01:51.heart of Exeter, changed forever in a single weekend.
:01:52. > :01:53.As you saw in Simon's piece there, the high street was cordoned off
:01:54. > :01:57.but the rest of the city is said to be open for business.
:01:58. > :02:00.Johnny Rutherford has been looking at the impact.
:02:01. > :02:06.The people of Exeter are motrning the loss of one of the beautiful
:02:07. > :02:09.city -- of their beautiful city This is the historic part of our
:02:10. > :02:16.fantastic city and all of us love coming here. You'll find thd
:02:17. > :02:19.Cathedral Green packed with people and families having picnics and
:02:20. > :02:22.laughing and to see this ancient hotel going up in smoke likd this
:02:23. > :02:26.breaks my heart. It's not known yet how much money has been lost to
:02:27. > :02:31.commerce, but the council s`ys it is determined to get Exeter back on its
:02:32. > :02:36.feet. I think the businesses are very resilient in Exeter. Wd had the
:02:37. > :02:42.bombs fall on us, we'll get through it as well. A lot of businesses are
:02:43. > :02:48.suffering, and we waiting for the fire brigade, so we got to lake sure
:02:49. > :02:51.the structure is safe. Business people in Exeter are very rdsilient
:02:52. > :02:55.and they will bounce back from this. Shoppers carried on today ddspite
:02:56. > :02:59.many shops in the high stredt closed. It hasn't affected the high
:03:00. > :03:02.street completely, but people just seem really sad that it has
:03:03. > :03:07.happened. Hopefully, people will join together and put the money
:03:08. > :03:11.together to get it back to `s it was. It is really sad day that the
:03:12. > :03:16.hotel is gone, but Exeter whll bounce back. Sadly, the Cathedral
:03:17. > :03:17.will remain closed tomorrow. In the last hour, Simon hall has
:03:18. > :03:27.sent this from the scene. Firefighters will be working here
:03:28. > :03:32.throughout the night. Commanders tell us that although they believe
:03:33. > :03:34.they have the fire contained, they will be damping down hotspots
:03:35. > :03:42.probably until early next wdek and that is likely to mean some, at
:03:43. > :03:45.least of the Cathedral Green will remain cordoned off. Commanders say
:03:46. > :03:51.they hope to reduce the sizd of the cord on.
:03:52. > :03:53.We will bring you more on that story as we get it across the BBC and the
:03:54. > :03:56.South West. Now football, and after a ddlay
:03:57. > :03:58.to Plymouth Argyle's game after what looked like a serious
:03:59. > :04:01.injury to the referee, they won 2-1. Yeovil Town drew and Torquax
:04:02. > :04:04.lost to Southport. In the championship,
:04:05. > :04:07.Cornish Pirates narrowly lost to Rotherham Titans,
:04:08. > :04:09.but a more convincing win for Plymouth Albion who beat
:04:10. > :04:11.Loughborough Students 53-15. Perfect for the run-up to H`lloween
:04:12. > :04:14.- lots of mist in mystery. A lot of cloud out there
:04:15. > :04:23.through tonight. Much like today,
:04:24. > :04:28.it is a solid layer. It will lower, so we will sde fog
:04:29. > :04:31.but a fairly quiet night and quite mild
:04:32. > :04:33.if your router trick-or-tre`ting, temperatures down
:04:34. > :04:34.to 11 or 12 Celsius. A grey start to the day tomorrow
:04:35. > :04:36.night. More brightness compared to today
:04:37. > :04:43.and the cloud should break tp into the afternoon and
:04:44. > :04:46.staying mild with the top It looks like it is staying
:04:47. > :04:49.settled into next week. It turns a little bit cooler
:04:50. > :05:20.from Wednesday onwards. Good evening, it has been a rather
:05:21. > :05:24.cloudy but certainly very mild day. In fact where we did see sunshine
:05:25. > :05:29.breaking through, in Hull for instance, temperatures rose as high
:05:30. > :05:32.as 19 degrees, more typical of the middle of August and late October.
:05:33. > :05:38.Things remaining mild and largely dry down to this big area of high
:05:39. > :05:39.pressure really dominating the weather. Bringing