Nostalgia: Gas explosion scene 'like Liverpool blitz'

FIFTY firemen fought a major blaze in Edinburgh this week back in 1977 after two gas cylinders exploded in the premises of A Stephen and Sons, a shopfitters in Henderson Place.

"When I looked out of the window I thought, 'Oh my god'. It was like the blitz on Liverpool during the war," said Jessie Macdonald, 66, a resident in a nearby tenement.

"It was very frightening. Flames were shooting up into the sky."

The fire was discovered by a passing policeman at about 4.20am and when the first fireman arrived at the scene, flames were already engulfing the entire building.

Dalkeith firemen were eventually drafted in to help tackle the blaze, which lasted for two hours and caused an estimated 150,000 of damage.

CID experts arrived at the scene that day to investigate the cause of the fire, with early reports suggesting there was "nothing definite to indicate suspicious circumstances".