Tinderbox City .....

[DavidWW]

This is the title of a programme on BBC in the UK tonight, - whether it ever make it across the Atlantic to the public service channel remains to be seen.

It's about the fact that the most dangerous place to live in the UK in terms of the danger of dying in a house fire is Glasgow...............

While there are all sorts of reasons that will be brought up such as excessive rates of smokng and consumption of alcohol - a lethal combination - together with the relative lack of use of smoke alarms, - and where these are installed a frightening proportion aren't in working order because they need a new battery (when did you last check yours ), - there is another reason.

Living in tenements means living in close proximity to potentially noisy neighbours, a fact appreciated by the builders back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, so they put some sound insulation underneath the floors, - a layer of ash several inches thick. Unfortunately it wasn't always pure ash, - which won't burn, - but only partially burnt coal that will still burn well once ignited, and as the Glasgow Fire Brigade are well aware once a fire has progressed to the point where this "ash" has started to burn, there's no real alternative but to evacuate and control the spread ........

Davie

See TS , see ra interestin things ye learn n at

[JustJean]

Hi Davie

I always appreciate your informational posts....and you're right....the things you can learn....especially from the internet.

The following is copied from another source so hopefully is has been attributed correctly. Although this was Dublin and more than 100 years ago it gives another example of the ravages of fire.

Source: The Illustrated London News, June 26, 1875, p.615

"An extraordinary scene took place at a great fire in Dublin on Saturday night. The fire was at Reid's malt-house and Malone's bonded warehouse, in the Liberties. The former had above £2000 worth of malt in it, and the latter, which immediately adjoins it, had 1800 puncheons of whisky, the property of various distillers, and worth £54,000. The burning liquor, running down Ardee-street, Chamber-street, Cork-street, and Mill-street, spread the flames with great rapidity. In two hours all the houses on one side of Mill-street and several in Chamber-street were destroyed. The fire brigade could not use their engines lest the water should carry the flames through the city, but they tore up the pavement and used sand and manure carried from a depot in a neighbouring street. A force of military, under Colonel Fellowes, was present, and rendered all the help they could, but all that could be done was to isolate the fire. Among the places destroyed was a large tannery in Mill-street. Crowds of people assembled, and took off their hats and boots to collect the whisky, which ran in streams along the streets. Four persons have died in the hospital from the effects of drinking the whisky, which was burning hot as it flowed. Two corn-porters, named Healy and M'Nulty, were found in a lane off Cork-street, lying insensible, with their boots off, which they had evidently used to collect the liquor. There are many other persons in the hospital who are suffering from the same cause. Two boys are reported to be dying, and it is feared that other deaths will follow. It has been ascertained that the fire originated in the bonded spirit stores of Mr. Lawrence Malone, in which there were 5000 barrels of whisky and other spirituous liquor. A subscription has been opened to relieve the distress of families whose dwellings and furniture were destroyed by this fire. A meeting for this purpose was held on Monday, by the Lord Mayor of Dublin's invitation, and several hundred pounds were at once subscribed."

[DavidWW]

A dramatic photograph of the fire in a bonded warehouse in Cheapside Street in Anderston, 1960. (See http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image.ph ... storyf.php) Firemen from every division in the city attended the huge conflagration, and men from the Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire brigades were also called upon.

At its peak, 450 men were engaged in fighting a blaze fuelled by more than a million gallons of whisky and rum that was held in the bond and sent fierce blue flames leaping into the night sky. Fourteen firemen and five men from the Glasgow Salvage Corps were killed when the walls of the warehouse were blown out into Cheapside Street and Warroch Street simultaneously as a result of an explosion inside the building.

David