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escotregen · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 8:07 am Post subject: James Watt Street Fire 1968

Devasting Fire tragedy Glasgow 60s

Just leafing through another topic brought to my mind an awful tragedy that occured in Glasgow in the (late?) 60s. This was not the much known-about Cheapside Warehouse fire deaths of several fireman. It was an old church that had been 'converted' into some sort of manufacturing workshop. A fire broke out and many workers were trapped and burned to death.

Can anyone remember or source more details?

At the time it received massive media coverage, I recall headlines in the UK papers like 'Tinderbox City'. It was revealed that the working conditions were poor with no fire fighting or containment provision. the fire exit doors had been locked and windows were barred.

The last part still brings a vivid memory to life for me. At the time I worked in another (quite similar!) type of workshop and the journeymen and bosses much talked about it all. Turned out that one of the journeymen had a relative who was going through a crisis that nowadays we would call post-event trauma. He had actually been out on the street with other passers-by who had the horrible experience of hearing and seeing the trapped people inside the building tearing at the steel bars trying to get out without success. The guy along with the others was desperately trying to find some way of helping the trapped people but they could do nothing.

It must have been the classic case of been stuck seeing other people suffer and being utterly helpless to do anything. I often wondered what happened to the likes of that guy. No doubt in those days you did not get any support like counselling etc. - just told to 'pull yourself out of it and move on' sort of stuff. Many decades later we hear many stories of how damaged people became in such circumstances.

Anyways, as I said at the time it was huge news as well as a human tragedy... but ulike the Cheapside event, it has vanished from Glasgow's folk memory. Maybe becuase it concerned 'just' ordinary people and not popular hero figures like firemen as at the Cheapside tragedy. Maybe because at the time it exposed a squalid underbelly of Glasgow with hundreds of such premises that were death traps just waiting for some mishap to turn them into disasters.
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poodiecat · Tofu hot dog & mustard Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 436

Is it the one from 1968 on this list, maybe?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historic_fires
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james73 · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:37 pm Post subject:

That's the only one I could find, 18 November 1968.

James Watt Street Fire - B Stern & Co Furniture Warehouse

Glasgow, like any other city, has had to deal with the tragedy of major fires breaking
out during its history.

But certainly one of the most harrowing was the one that took place on November 18,
1968, in James Watt Street, in the Anderston area of the city near the Broomielaw.

The fire bore a terrible similarity to another dreadful event that had taken place only a few
blocks away in Cheapside Street, just over eight years previously.

Both fires started in bonded warehouses and both resulted in the loss of many lives. The
fire in James Watt Street broke out in an upholstery factory situated in an old three-storey
bonded warehouse.

Because it was a high security building, like many others in the area, all the windows had
been heavily barred to prevent break-ins. But the security measures also made it impossible
for most of the workforce to escape.

Only three people managed to escape the inferno. Another 22 perished as they desperately
tried to find a way to flee the blaze that sent black smoke billowing into the sky and could be
seen for miles around.

Some had been trapped in a lift between floors while others died trying in vain to break out
through a padlocked fire escape. The workers escape had also been hampered by the
wooden staircases which were consumed by the fire.

In total, 20 fire appliances were brought in to fight the blaze and bring it under control but
the building was reduced to a burnt out shell.

James H
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Alex Glass · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 8:11 pm Post subject:

Great work James and Poodiecat.

They photos are clear as well.

I will try a contact I have at the Fire and Rescue Service to see if they have any more information.
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escotregen · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 12:48 pm Post subject:

First class stuff guys - that was the tragedy I was thinking of. I must have misled myself when I thought I recollected it was an old converted church rather than old warehouse.
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