Memorial for Cheapside Street Disaster

A MEMORIAL will be unveiled in Glasgow today to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cheapside Street Disaster, in which 14 members of Glasgow Fire Service and five members of Glasgow Salvage Corps were killed in a whisky bond explosion.

The disaster - on 28 March 1960 - involved the biggest loss of life in the peacetime history of the UK Fire Service. The Lord Provost of Glasgow, Councillor Bob Winter, will unveil a striking piece of black granite, with an engraved depiction of a firefighter on an extended turntable ladder pouring water on to the blaze.