One hundred firefighters tackle Glasgow city centre blaze

One hundred firefighters tackle Glasgow city centre blaze

A huge inferno was tackled by firefighters in Glasgow city centre on Sunday morning (February 3rd), taking nearly four hours to get under control.

Indeed, some 100 firefighters and fire safety officers attended the scene in Dixon Street after a former bedding shop went up in flames at 01.50 GMT.

Crews from Calton, Polmadie and Maryhill Community Fire Stations were the first on the scene and quickly found access to the inside of the building to help tackle the top-floor fire.

However, because of the rapid spread of the blaze, additional resources from across Glasgow and Lanarkshire were called to the three-storey building.

According to Strathclyde Fire and Rescue (SFR), the task of containing the conflagration was made trickier by the high winds hitting the city in the early hours of Sunday morning. The job was made even more difficult after the roof collapsed at around 04.40 GMT – nearly three hours after the blaze started.

Just over half-an-hour later, the fire was contained – with the help of aerial rescue pumps – before it was later put out. Fire crews used thermal imaging devices to ensure no pockets of fire remained in the building.

A statement released by the local fire and rescue authority said: “Crews remained all day Sunday to make the scene safe bringing the incident to its conclusion.

“The cause of the blaze will now be subject to a full investigation carried out by SFR’s Incident Research and Investigation section.”

Fire crews also worked hard to ensure neighbouring buildings were not destroyed in the blaze, SFR said, while nobody was hurt in the incident.

It’s not the first serious fire to have affected the city in recent months. In December, Glasgow firefighters were called in to tackle a blaze in the basement of a tower block.

Officers were forced to use breathing apparatus to help stop the blaze, which was thought to have been started because of an electrical problem, from spreading to other floors.

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