Akrotiri Mess fire(s)
I was there is 1961(ish) when the Mess burned to the ground, except for a the porcelain bits of the gents urinals and special loo that had been built for HM. It was around the 5th of the month and mess bills were still lurking in our letter racks. Those of us off duty rallied round to save the silver, the carpets and the mail from the mail boxes - the mess bills were sorted out and thrown back into the fire. However, the mess was large enough that we had a full time Mess Secretary and he managed to save his books and ledgers - b*gger! We did have a sale of a lot of scorched tinnies of beer for a few weeks afterwards so it was not all bad news!