BIG FIRE IN GLASGOW

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29342, 22 October 1960, Page 16

BIG FIRE IN GLASGOW

Firemen Escape Explosion

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) GLASGOW, October 20.

Scores of firemen escaped death tonight when a huge building in which they were fighting a blaze erupted into a mass of roaring flames.

The firemen were trying to quell the fire in one of Glasgow’s biggest multiple stores when a basement explosion sent flames shooting up throughout the building. The firemen managed to scramble to safety, but three had to be carried out, two of them unconscious.

The fire, at a Woolworth store, was discovered 20 minutes after the last customer had left, and only about a dozen people were still in the building. All found their way out, with the exception of a fire insurance surveyor, who was trapped for about 10 minutes before being escorted out unhurt by firemen. Ninety minutes after the had been discovered, k smoke 'was pouring through every window in the building, and the store was surrounded

by fire engines. The heat burst plate glass windows, sending debris over fire engines in the street below, and minutes later flames burst through the roof of the building , The first and second floors c6l- - lapsed int* the basement