THE fire at York Minster was of huge concern worldwide, not only in York. The cause was uncertain, although some would ascribe supernatural sources.

The fire was of such severity that at times it seemed it would spread to the main body of the building. The fight to contain and extinguish the blaze must surely have been one of the most memorable in the working lives of the fire crews involved, their efforts crowned with success in that they saved our national treasure, by and large.

I was all the more incredulous, then, to discover that the records of this battle have been "thrown out" (Minster blaze details binned, The Press, August 6). By whom, and on whose orders?

One would have thought that, as with all battles, the identification of cause, the severity and the strategy to contain would have become textbook for future generations of firefighters, let alone a catalogue of a major trauma in the life of the Minster.

Should we look further for a reason? Or is it one more case of the jobsworth man, following the manual religiously, with no regard for what it is he is destroying? They should have passed the relevant records to the city archives at the very least. Black marks to all concerned.

Charles Rushton, Pasture Close, Strensall, York.