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Glass panel by George Walton
Glass panel by George Walton

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Penilee in Wartime

Cheapside Street Fire

Glasgow City Archives, Deposited Collections

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Cheapside Street Fire

Aerial photograph looking from the north-east at the site of the Cheapside Street Fire in Anderston, 1960. Smoke still rises from the buildings at the centre of the image and three jets of water from fire fighters' hoses can be seen damping down the rubble of the collapsed warehouses.

Water was drawn from the nearby River Clyde to help put out the fire. Hoses were even mounted on a dredger moored at Anderston Quay, at the centre of the photograph, to direct jets of water from a height on the fire as it spread south towards the river. Vessels moored at Springfield Quay on the south side of the river, shown in the background with a ship moored alongside, reported burning embers landing on their decks.

The building with the ridged roof behind the warehouse site, on Warroch Street, was a timber store belonging to the shipbuilders Harland & Wolff. The fire brigade watched the building closely throughout the night of the fire, extinguishing promptly the small fires which spread from the warehouse and which, had they caught hold, could have sparked another devastating conflagration.

Reference: TD1431/51/26/3

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries, Information and Learning

Keywords:
aerial views, Anderston Quay, bonded warehouses, Cheapside Street Fire, disasters, dredgers, fire fighters, firemen, fires, Glasgow Fire Brigade, Harland & Wolff, quays, River Clyde, ships, Springfield Quay, timber stores



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