March 28th, 1960, at 7:15pm, a blaze ripped through the bonded warehouse on Cheapside Street. The warehouse stored around a million gallons of whiskey and rum which later ignited as the blaze spread throughout the warehouse. Fire services from around the area were dispatched after smoke was reported from a second-floor window of the warehouse.
The fire was so large that it engulfed the neighbouring factories and warehouses, and it spread on to Warroch street. At 7:49pm, Assistant Firemaster Swanson arrived on the scene and not even a few seconds after a huge explosion blow out on the street. The explosion killed nineteen people.
The fire raged for an entire week and a total of thirty pumping appliances, five turnable ladders and four support vehicles were used. Witnesses had reported to seeing bright blue flames reaching forty feet in the sky and an orange glow that had been visible across the entire city[1].
[1] Christina O’Neil, (March 28, 2021) Glasgow Live. Cheapside Street Fire – 61 years since one of Scotland’s worst peacetime fire disasters. https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/cheapside-street-1960-whisky-fire-14469252 (para 1 to 9)
