25/08/2026
Today we remember Firemen:
Iain Bermingham
Allan Finlay
William Hooper
Duncan McMillan
James Rook
Leading Fireman Allister Crofts
Divisional Officer Andrew Quinn
Of Glasgow Fire Service , now Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on the 54th Anniversary of their deaths at a fire at Sher Brothers Warehouse, Kilbirnie Street, Glasgow on 25th August 1972.
At 11:21 on 25th August 1972, Glasgow Fire Control to ‘Fire’ at the Cash and Carry Warehouse, Kilbirnie Street.
2 Appliances were immediately dispatched from the South Fire Station. On arrival only 3 minutes after the initial call the top of the building and roof was observed to be well alight.
The first Officer in charge transmitted an assistance message to fire control to ‘Make pumps 4’.
An appliance from Queen’s Park and another from West Marine were mobilised to help incident.
Salvagemen of the Glasgow Salvage Corps were also dispatched to the incident.
Firemen in Breathing Apparatus (BA) were committed to locate & fight the fire. They encountered thick black smoke and a complicated layout that which hampered their efforts to progress in to the building.
On arrival of the reinforcing appliances, the Officer in Charge ordered a vent hole made in the roof to allow the release of smoke from within the building, which immediately began issuing from the created vent in large quantities.
Firemen committed in BA continued to experience intense heat and thick smoke within the premises.
At around 11:00 a senior Officer, Divisional Officer Quinn who had assumed command of the incident, noted the symptoms of severe fire on the upper floors of the building & that crews were becoming exhausted from the punishment of the fire. He ordered an Emergency Tender for the provision of additional BA & Firemen.
At 11:55 the conditions inside the building were becoming untenable & subsequently DO Quinn ordered an evacuation of the building.
Shortly after Fireman Rook was ordered to by an Officer to apply water to an area of Fire spread in the roof area of the building. It is believed that the Officer had heard the evacuation signal.
Fireman Rook immediately complied with the order given and proceeded to the scene. Whilst applying water to the Fire both Fireman Rook & the Officer were trapped in a collapse of stock within the warehouse. The Officer managed to extricate himself and raised the alarm that Fireman Rook was missing.
A ‘persons reported’ message was transmitted to control indicating that someone was trapped in the building, in this case a member of the Brigade, shortly followed by an asssistance message of ‘make pumps 8’.
Deputy Firemaster McGill (2nd in charge of the Brigade) on hearing that a Fireman was trapped immediately proceeded to the fire to take charge.
At the scene emergency teams were committed to locate a rescue Fireman Rook but were required to withdraw due to the impacts of the fire conditions.
DO Quinn, determined to rescue his colleague entered the premises with Leading Fireman Crofts and Firemen Bermingham,Finlay,Hooper, Murray & McMcMillan to search for Fireman Rook with only some of the Firemen wearing BA.
Fireman Rook was located by Fireman Murray who dug him out of the collapsed stock. Fireman Murray who was not in BA sustained severe burns in the process & was supported out of the building by Firemen Welsh & Smith.
As attempts were made to remove Fireman Rook from the collapse, a fire phenomenon know as a Flashover occurred where the entire area immediately ignited in a ball of fire engulfing the Firemen, soon causing structural collapse.
An immediate roll call was taken which identified the 7 Firemen as missing. Crews were immediately committed via ladder to search for the missing crew.
Members of the crew were discovered within the premises whereupon they were found to have injuries incompatible with life. The decision as taken to withdraw rescuing crews and fight the fire externally due to risk of further loss of life through collapse.
Aerial appliances were ordered to the incident to assist in the operations, bringing the fire under control. The deceased crew were subsequently removed, with the body of Fireman Rook being removed last at around 16:11.
Subsequent inquires discovered that the hardwood clad ceilings had made for ‘ideal’ flashover conditions.
Iain Bermingham was 29 at the time of his death.
Allan Finlay was 20 at the time of his death.
William Hooper was 44 at the time of his death.
Duncan McMillan was 25 at the time of his death.
James Rook was 29 at the time of his death.
Allister Crofts was 31 at the time of his death.
Andrew Quinn was 47 at the time of his death.
All of the crew that perished were interred the Glasgow Necropolis Cemetry.
