£150 000 FIRE IN GLASGOW.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12587, 18 October 1911, Page 8

£150 000 FIRE IN GLASGOW.

CO-OPERATIVE 1 STORES IN FLAMES.

> LONDON, Sept. 3,

Over 200,000 people assembled to watch a great fire* m Glasgow, which partly destroyed the great building of ,the Wholesale Co-operative Society, erected m 1897 at a cost of £250,000. It! was at 7 o'clock that a watchman saw smoke issuing from the ironmongery .department on the fourth floor. He teent the alarm, to the Central lire Station, and within twenty minutes every available fireman ia Glasgow was struggling with the flames. The, groat cr6wd of' spectators watched the flames eating up the interior of the building, which encloses an area of an acre and a-half.

The structure had three towers rising above' the main facade in>M Morrison street. One of these slid .down like melting snow at 9 o'clock, and the flames leaped up as if m joy at their victory over, stone. The central tower was m danger of collapsing into the street, arid the area surrounqing it wo£ kept clear; ' fcjtocjc valued at £200,000 was stored m *the building, and m it \yere also stored the valuable books and documents of 'the society, which is a federation of 260 societies"-: throughout Great Britain and has a share capital of . £pOO,QQO. The topmost floor (the fifth) was "stored 1 with toys' and; small wqrej and these were- speedily : alight. Then the 1 flames ate their way. from. .the fourth floor to the bedding and furniture departments on; the 'third floor, arid continued to spteadt downwards, despite the Streams of water potired into the flames. : The building was divided m the centre by double fireproof walls, 3£ feet apart. These withstood the attack of the fire, but eventually the tongues of flame burned a way into the • central tower, and through this ate a passage to the -farther side of the fire-proof gables. The fire was still burning at a late hour. Though, some effect had been made on the flames; the task of saving 'th«j counting-house and the grocery and; furniture departments seemed hopeless. Tltere was imminent danger of the two remaining towers. and the walls toppling outwards, arid the firemen were warned to * keep at a safe distance. They climbed the roofs of adjacent buildings and- retreated step by step. Kingston Dock i* on the opposite side of Morrison street, and the crews of vessels there climbed the masts of their ships and had an unobstructed view of the 'fire. . - „ , The society has a fire insurance fund amounting to £500.000, but insurances have also been effected , with private pompaniea, among which the Royal is

the most heavily involved. The fire was got under control about midnight, at which time the damage was estimated at £150,000.