A new book remembers a fire in Glasgow which exploded into the worst peactime disaster the British fire services had faced

FOR firefighter James Dunlop, the first few minutes of what would become known as the Cheapside Street Disaster were among the most testing: having survived the explosion in a bonded warehouse that instantly killed 11 of his fellow firefighters, he was now confronted with rescuing his colleague William Watters, trapped at the top of a turntable ladder 50ft off the ground, while flames advanced as whisky barrels ruptured, sending a river of burning alcohol into the street.

Determination and presence of mind gave him the wherewithal to save Watters, but his act of bravery was just one of many in an incident that remains the single worst peacetime disaster for the British fire services.

By the end of the night of 28 March, 1960, the fire that destroyed the warehouse in Cheapside Street, Anderston, close to the Clyde, had killed 14 firefighters and five members of Glasgow Salvage Corps.

Fifty years on, the city is preparing to commemorate those who lost their lives with a new memorial and an exhibition, and a new book Tinderbox Heroes revisits the horrific events and the heroism of the men who tackled the blaze.

Post-war Glasgow had almost become used to large fires breaking out, to the point that a newspaper gave it the title "Tinderbox City". The Cheapside Street blaze, though, was etched in the public consciousness by its sheer scale and violence.

Colleagues of the firefighters killed in the blaze wait outside

St Andrews Cathedral in Glasgow as relatives arrive for the requiem Mass

The alarm had been raised by George Pinkstone, the depot superintendent of an ice-cream company, who saw smoke coming from the second floor of the adjoining bonded warehouse belonging to Arbuckle, Smith & Co, just before 7:15pm.

At the time the premises contained 1,043,088 gallons of whisky and more than 31,107 gallons of rum. An initial search by firefighters uncovered much smoke but no real heat, just the sound of crackling. The sighting of blue flames – associated with burning alcohol – increased anxiety among the firefighters, who doubled their efforts to find the seat of the fire.

Then, at 7:49pm, disaster struck, as assistant firemaster John Swanson wrote later in his formal statement: "I had only walked about eight yards when there was a terrific roar similar to thunder, and then there was a long 'swish' or 'boom' which caused me to look up to see what was happening. I saw the entire frontage of Section 1 of the bond building blow out into Cheapside Street.

"I saw a turntable ladder which had been in the middle of the street being completely enveloped by tons of fallen bricks, masonry and dust. I heard screams and then there was a silence."

The Scotsman also gave a vivid account of the first moments of the disaster which had killed three firefighters: "The whisky in the bond exploded, shattering the building. Flames soared 200ft into the air, an orange glow which filled the sky could be seen two miles away. When the wall of the bond collapsed on the engines in Cheapside Street, firemen fought to save their mates trapped in the wreckage. But they had no hope of reaching the engines or crew trapped beneath the burning debris. Another engine badly damaged and smoking, was driven to safety."

At the same time, the back of the warehouse, on Warroch Street was blown out, killing 11 firefighters and five members of the Glasgow Salvage Corps, whose job it was to minimise the water damage from the hoses and were as close as possible to the fire.

The sheer scale of the fire drew thousands of spectators from across the city to line both sides of the Clyde, where they watched as the flames leapfrogged across the narrow street to another whisky bond.

Every available fire engine, Glasgow and district, was called to the bond. Television and radio stations and Glasgow cinemas issued a call to all off-duty firefighters to attend. But the narrow streets and debris made it difficult to fight the blaze from street level effectively, and the men were forced instead to rely on turntable ladders to direct hoses on to the conflagration.

Whisky barrels within the bond were falling from their racks and smashing open, fuelling the inferno. Firefighters spoke of a repetitive booming sound as barrels exploded with the heat of the flames.

The blaze spread, engulfing a tobacco warehouse, the ice-cream factory and the Harland & Wolff engine works, where firefighters fought desperately to make thousands of liquid oxygen and air canisters safe. At the height of the inferno, 450 firefighters were involved, with 25 pumps in use, while a fire boat on the Clyde directed its jets over the dockside.

By the following morning the fire was under control, but it was not until 31 March that the last body was recovered, and it took days to extinguish the smoking remains completely. The fact that more lives were not lost, or the damage even greater, was down to the heroism shown by the firefighters in the face of daunting odds. Six members of Glasgow Fire Service received bravery awards, including James Dunlop, who received the George Medal in recognition of his rescuing of colleague Watters.

James Smith, who co-authored Tinderbox Heroes with former Scotsman writer Alan Forbes, and who joined Glasgow Fire Service just two years after Cheapside Street, said that throughout the incident, the quality of leadership and resolve of the firefighters to tackle fire shone through. "There was a distillery across the road from Arbuckle's that caught fire and they had to go into that at the same time as they were trying to fight the original blaze, plus the fact that they had just lost a number of men. When they got inside the second warehouse, they discovered the whisky casks were steaming and radiating heat. So you're talking about a warehouse with the same capacity of alcohol as the bond on Cheapside Street; they had a fight on their hand and it took 12 hours before they could say they had the fire under control.

"It took resolve just to continue doing what they were doing. It wasn't a case of once the walls had fell out that was it; further down the extremely narrows streets there were underground vats of rum on fire, rupturing and blowing walls down. There was a constant unknown factor with the whole thing."

Despite an inquiry, no single cause for the fire was ever found, although it is believed that an electrical fault or a discarded match were the most likely cause. The estimated cost of the fire was 3 million – compared with the city's fire loss bill for 1959, which was 407,000. But the impact of the disaster went well beyond the city's limits: messages of condolence were received from around the world; almost 400 wreaths were sent to the funeral, while Princess Margaret, who was visiting Scotland, took time out from her schedule to visit the disaster scene.

The funeral of the men, a week later, was almost a state affair: flags flew at half-mast throughout the city as 16,000 people lined the High Street and Cathedral Square to watch the cortge, which was more than 400 yards long. A memorial was erected in the Necropolis, and it has become the gathering point for an annual ceremony. This Sunday in addition to the service, a new granite plaque commemorating the disaster will be unveiled outside Glasgow City Chambers, and later placed by the Clyde Walkway adjacent to Cheapside Street.

Rev Dr Neville Davidson, minister of Glasgow Cathedral, best described the legacy of those who had lost their lives when he spoke at the funeral: "A shining example of duty done to the utmost, of courage undaunted by danger or self-sacrifice."

Tinderbox Heroes, by Alan Forbes and James Smith, is published by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Employees' Association (snipurl.com/tinderbook), 12.99, available from Waterstone's branches in Glasgow.

AN UNENVIABLE REPUTATION FOR FIRES

GLASGOW'S reputation for large fires was well established before Cheapside and continued into the 1970s, earning it the title "Tinderbox City".

A 1951 blaze destroyed the Arnott Simpson's department store, the Woolworth Store Fires of 1960 erased major landmarks, while the James Watt Street fire killed 22 people in 1968.

According to James Smith, the phenomenon was in part due to its Victorian architectural heritage

– there were vast warehouse buildings built without sprinkler systems with windows bricked up or barred, partly to offer protection from bombs, partly as a security measure.

Moreover, though Glasgow Fire Service was keen to introduce the most up-to-date fire fighting equipment, they were hampered by antiquated legislation. It was not until 1959 that fire services were given the power to enforce fire prevention and fire fighting provisions in factory premises