Glasgow's Kilbirnie Street fire victims remembered 50 years on

Five decades on from the Kilbirnie Street fire, families and former colleagues will this week pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the 1972 blaze at a special ceremony, our sister title, The Herald, reports.

Seven men were killed when the warehouse building went up after a flashover with crew still trapped inside. Daring rescue missions to save colleagues in the end were sadly in vain, but nothing would hold back the natural instinct to help a stricken crew member when such close bonds were shared in their perilous field of work.

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Fire broke out at a cash and carry warehouse belonging to Sher Brothers shortly after 11am on August 25, 1972. It had a ground floor and two upper floors and had originally been a stables but had been modified over the years.

James Smith, a fire historian and co-author of Tinderbox Heroes with Alan Forbes, which commemorated the Cheapside Street whisky bond fire of 1960 and detailed many post-war blazes, believes the city’s transformation brought an added element of danger for their role.

Seven fire crew died in a blaze in Kilbirnie Street in 1972

Mr Smith, who this year is marking 60 years since he joined the fire service, said: “Glasgow was changing from an industrial city to a commercial city and there was also some out of town warehouses in the likes of East Kilbride and Cumbernauld.

“In the early 1960s there was almost 150,000 derelict tenements or warehouses in Glasgow, some waiting to be pulled down, and were targets for vandals or scrap merchants.

“When we responded to derelict property callouts, there could be a bystander in the street telling you they thought someone was inside and that was it, firefighters were then committed to go in."

Eyewitness accounts were captured in Tinderbox Heroes, with the Kilbirnie Street fire being described as a “body blow” to a service which had not fully recovered from the Cheapside Street disaster which claimed 19 lives, 14 firefighters and five Glasgow Salvage Corps members.

Victims and heroes of the 1972 Kilbirnie Street fire will be remembered 50 years on

At 11.21am on August 25, 1972 a 999 call was made when an employee discovered smoke and flames in the attic. It has been lined and partitioned with hardboard and had stock including clothing and drapery on shelves some as high as 12ft.

Fire crews tried to find the seat of the fire and after 25 minutes it still hadn’t been brought under control which is when Divisional Officer Andrew Quinn ordered everyone out so he could get silence to assess the blaze.

Mr Smith added: “Hardboard ignited which led to a flashover right across the room. It was later discovered at an inquiry that the Department of Environment had known that hardboard untreated was extremely dangerous, but the fire service at the time weren’t passed that information.

“By the very nature of what firefighters do they have a very close bond and relationship with their colleagues. They work as a team and they go to assist when a colleague is in trouble."

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Fireman James Rook was leaving the building when another officer spotted flames in the attic. Rook helped him to turn a jet on the fire, but moments later part of the stock collapsed on the men, burying Rook and stunning the officer who lay unconscious before managing to exit.

A rescue party collapsed in their bid to find Rook who had been reported missing, but it was DO Quinn who determined he should be saved and led a second rescue bid.

Sadly the names of fire crew who perished in the Kilbirnie Street fire were added to the Glasgow Necropolis memorial

While DO Quinn and colleagues found him, fireman Brian Murray supported a shelving rack to allow fellow officer Iain Bermingham to pull Rook clear.

Moments later flames shot across the ceiling and a flare-up engulfed the rescuers.

Eyewitness and leading fireman Hugh Welsh recalled in Tinderbox Heroes: "The fire got bigger and bigger and the heat up there must have been terrific at ceiling level." Welsh and colleague Jimmy Smith pulled Murray out of the warehouse with Welsh later receiving the Glasgow Corporation Medal for Bravery.

Those who died were: Divisional Officer Andrew Quinn, 47, Alistair Crofts, 31, Iain Bermingham, 29, Allan Finlay, 20, William Hooper, 44, Duncan McMillan, 25, and James Rook, 29.

The names of those lost were added to the eastern side of a memorial to the firefighters lost in the Cheapside Street fire 12 years previously in the Glasgow Necropolis.

Devastating city fires and incidents

GLASGOW earned itself the name Tinderbox City following a series of fires spanning four decades, some with devastating consequences.

Fires including the Arnott Simpson department store in 1951 saw major landmarks disappear from the cityscape.

In 1960, 19 people were killed when the Cheapside Street whisky bond went up in flames.

Worse was to come when 22 furniture factory workers were killed in the James Watt Street fire in 1968.

Major post war Glasgow fires from 1949:

May 4 1949

Graftons fashion store, 43 Argyle Street

13 young women – six of them teenagers – died.

The fire developed with such speed and simultaneously entered and covered every floor of the building

February 3 1951

Arnott Simpson’s department store, junction of Argyle Street and Jamaica Street

It was already an inferno when the fire service was called. Windows blew out and fire belched from every opening.

March 16 1953

Leon & Co, Ballater Street

Glasgow Fire Service received three George Medals, two British Empire Medals and three Queen’s Commendations for bravery – the largest number of civilian bravery awards in a single incident. They were trying to rescue five people, two directors and three employees, but four of them died.

January 17 1957

LEP Transport 18 Houldsworth Street

More than 100 people were evacuated when fire broke out at the warehouse that had not been fitted with automatic detectors

August 19 1958

Barrowland Ballroom 244 Gallowgate

A fire report into the blaze at the city institution found the source of the fire was traced to a confined space where band instruments and music were stored. It is thought the cause of the fire was a match or cigarette dropped by a band member.

January 28 1959

Fatal tram crash, Shettleston Road

The No 23 tram collided with a lorry at an ironworks. Fire broke out immediately and three people lost their lives.

May 28 1960 Sauchiehall Street and October 20 1960 36/48 Argyle Street

Chain store Woolworths suffered two major blazes in just months. Staff and shoppers were evacuated when fire broke out in Sauchiehall Street. A second fire in Argyle Street left 14 fire crew injured trying to escape from the burning building.

October 26, St Andrew’s Halls, Berkeley Street 1962

The 1877 halls were destroyed but the fire crews had a battle on their hands to stop the fire spreading to the adjoining Mitchell Library.

January 14 1968

Hurricane Low Q

It was described as Central Scotland's worst natural disaster since records began and the worst gale in the UK. Some said that the damage resembled what happened during the Clydebank Blitz. 20 people died from the storm, with nine dead in Glasgow. 700 people were left homeless.