The warehouse fire

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

At first, the thin smoke above the riverside warehouses seemed no more than the morning mist. The apprentices carried on unloading crates, though one of them kept glancing towards the roof. A bell sounded from the far end of the quay. The foreman told the men to finish the stack before they went to look.

Before noon, sparks were landing in the yard. The horses strained at their leads as flames appeared behind the upper windows. Men dragged barrels away from the doors, and a woman ran from the counting house with a ledger pressed to her chest. Across the water, the market stalls were being cleared. The bell rang again, but now no one waited for the foreman’s order.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to present the growing danger. Support your answer with references to the passage.