{"id":142123,"date":"2018-06-16T16:34:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-16T16:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/how-glasgow-earned-its-reputation-as-the-tinderbox-city\/"},"modified":"2018-06-16T16:34:05","modified_gmt":"2018-06-16T16:34:05","slug":"how-glasgow-earned-its-reputation-as-the-tinderbox-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/how-glasgow-earned-its-reputation-as-the-tinderbox-city\/","title":{"rendered":"How Glasgow earned its reputation as the ‘Tinderbox City’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"CrowdsImage copyright Getty Images
Image caption Large crowds gathered and looked on as firefighters tackled the blaze <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The devastating Art School fire is the latest to occur in a small part of Glasgow which has witnessed some of Scotland's most dramatic blazes.<\/p>\n

Two factory tragedies in the 1960s led to it being dubbed the "Tinderbox City". <\/p>\n

This century the roll call of major incidents include fires which destroyed two nightclubs.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, they all occurred within a mile of the blaze in the art school's Mackintosh building.<\/p>\n

That caught fire at about 23:20 on Friday - for the second time in four years.<\/p>\n

The flames quickly spread to nearby buildings, including the Campus nightclub and O2 ABC music venue, which suffered "extensive damage".<\/p>\n

Cheapside Street in 1960 - 19 firemen killed<\/h2>\n
Image caption Part of the whisky bond collapsed following an explosion, killing 19 firefighters <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Half a century ago, a blaze at a whisky bond on Cheapside Street in Glasgow resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen firemen - making it Britain's worst peacetime fire services disaster.<\/p>\n

It broke out the evening of 28 March, 1960 and was fuelled by almost 4.5 million litres of whisky and more than 140,000 litres of rum.<\/p>\n

Fourteen firemen and five members of the Salvage Corps were killed instantly as it raged out of control. <\/p>\n

The men died after an explosion caused the bond's 20m high (60ft) walls to crash onto the street below.<\/p>\n

The flames spread to consume a tobacco warehouse, an ice cream factory and the Harland and Wolff engine factory.<\/p>\n

Crews fought the resulting fire for 11 hours until it was finally brought under control the following morning.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Glasgow art school fire 'heartbreaking'<\/li>\n
  • Glasgow School of Art fire latest<\/li>\n
  • Fire engulfs Glasgow's Mackintosh building<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    In 2010 James Dunlop, one of the firefighters who survived, paid his respects at a memorial to mark the 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n

    He was awarded the George Medal for bravery for rescuing a colleague who had been blown off a turntable platform above the fire.<\/p>\n

    He said: "It was a very sudden and unexpected explosion that took us by surprise. <\/p>\n

    "It took us a few moments to realise that it had occurred.<\/p>\n

    "To me it wasn't scary after that. <\/p>\n

    "There was a determination to beat this fire.<\/p>\n

    "Now I'm older I feel it even more deeply, the sad loss of colleagues and people I was fond of - our team."<\/p>\n

    James Watt Street in 1968 - 22 lost their lives<\/h2>\n
    Image copyright Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
    Image caption Firefighters at a memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cheapside fire <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Later this year, the 50th anniversary of the worst fire in Glasgow's history will be remembered.<\/p>\n

    On 18 November, 1968, a blaze devastated a factory on James Watt Street.<\/p>\n

    The building, which housed an upholstery business and a glass company, was a former whisky bond and had bars on its windows which prevented many workers from escaping.<\/p>\n

    As a result 22 people lost their lives and only three people who were in the factory escaped alive.<\/p>\n

    Both fires earned Glasgow a reputation as the "Tinderbox City", a term coined by newspapers.<\/p>\n

    Sadly, it still applies more than half a century on.<\/p>\n

    More devastation in 2004, 2014 and 2018<\/h2>\n
    Image copyright Alisdair Woodburn
    Image caption The previous Art School fire in 2014 was caused by flammable gases from a canister of expanding foam <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    In 2004 two popular Glasgow nightclubs Trash and The Shack were destroyed in a fire, less than 200 yards from the Art School.<\/p>\n

    The popular student haunts were housed in the A-listed former Elgin Place Congregational Church building.<\/p>\n

    The fire broke out on 26 November, the morning after The Shack celebrated its fourth birthday.<\/p>\n

    It left behind a charred shell which had to be demolished.<\/p>\n

    Mother nature has also left its mark on the area.<\/p>\n

    In 1998 the steeple of Renfield St Stephen's Church in Bath Street collapsed and smashed into the roof below after the city was battered by 93mph winds.<\/p>\n

    Glasgow School of Art in 2014 - first major fire<\/h2>\n
    Image copyright Scottish Fire and Rescue
    Image caption The library was completely destroyed in the blaze <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    In a cruel coincidence Friday's fire is the second to hit the Art School in four years.<\/p>\n

    At about 12:30 on Friday 23 May, 2014 fire crews were scrambled to the A-listed Mackintosh building. <\/p>\n

    Eyewitnesses said the fire appeared to have started when a projector exploded in the basement.<\/p>\n

    Final year students had been preparing for their end-of-year degree show in the building when the blaze broke out.<\/p>\n

    The main fire was extinguished by about 17:00 but there were still pockets of flames within the building.<\/p>\n

    The iconic library, recognised as being one of the finest examples of art nouveau in the world, was lost in the fire.<\/p>\n

    An investigation later concluded the fire was caused by flammable gases from a canister of expanding foam.<\/p>\n

    Sauchiehall Street in 2018 - Victoria's Nightclub goes up in flames<\/h2>\n
    Image copyright Police Scotland
    Image caption An aerial view from the Police Scotland helicopter shows how close the fire was to the Pavilion <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Just three months ago a major blaze swept through a block on Sauchiehall Street, less than half a mile from the Art School.<\/p>\n

    It housed businesses including Victoria's nightclub.<\/p>\n

    The flames took hold in the roof of the building at about 08:20 on Thursday 22 March.<\/p>\n

    One of the first priorities was stopping the fire spreading to the 114-year-old Pavilion Theatre.<\/p>\n

    At the height of the blaze, more than 120 firefighters and 20 fire engines were mobilised to the city centre.<\/p>\n

    Glasgow City Council later confirmed the buildings at 92-96 and 98-106 Sauchiehall Street will have to be demolished.<\/p>\n

    Glasgow has proved its resilience in overcoming many disasters over the years.<\/p>\n

    But the latest Art School blaze, which looks to have have destroyed all the painstaking restoration work since 2014, presents an daunting new challenge. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Image copyright Getty ImagesImage caption Large crowds gathered and looked on as firefighters tackled the blaze The devastating Art School fire is the latest to occur in a small part<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}