Insiders tell tale of school blaze that shook city

THE first call came in at 5.17pm.

Stella Rae, watch commander at the former Tayside Fire and Rescue Service’s command and control centre, took it.

A concerned member of the public reported smoke coming from the Morgan Academy in Stobswell.

“I wasn’t initially expecting it to be the scale that it was, but we had nine or 10 calls in the first five minutes and that suggested it was a genuine fire,” said Stella.

“At 5.19pm control dispatched five appliances – three pumps (standard fire engines), an aerial ladder platform (ALP) and an emergency tender.” Firefighters reached the scene at 5.23pm.

Flames rapidly engulfed the roof space and at 5.31pm crews sent their first message to control confirming fire in the roof.

Craig Millar, a firefighter for two years at the time, arrived with Macalpine station’s blue watch in response to the first call.

He was one of only four firefighters to enter the school wearing breathing apparatus and tackle the blaze from inside.

Craig, now crew commander of amber watch at Blackness fire station, said: “It was kind of strange because we went up the stairs and they were completely clear of smoke all the way.

“When we got to the top of the stairs there were two sets of doors with glass partitions and we could see an orange glow on the other side.

“When we went through the doors everything you could see was on fire.”

After five to 10 minutes Craig and the other firefighters were evacuated.

Retired firefighter Eddie Bree, then station officer at Kingsway fire station, was one of the first to attend.

He decided it was not worth the risk of putting firefighters inside as the chances of the roof collapsing were “substantial”.

Eddie said: “I went upstairs and could hear the fire roaring away, it was so loud.

“It sounded like wind rushing through a tunnel. By the time I came down the stairs the senior officer came on and took overall charge.”

That senior officer was Ali Hay – then Dundee divisional officer, who was later the first chief fire officer for Scotland when the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was formed.

Ali said: “The real desire was to save as much of the building as we could for pupils but this was a huge fire above the heads of the firefighters and their safety is paramount, which is why we made the decision not to send them in.”

The school’s iconic clock tower became engulfed and at 7.45pm it collapsed.

In the crowd, Diane Salisbury, the school’s principal teacher of guidance, says initial excitement was replaced with a sombre atmosphere.

She said: “When the tower collapsed that was kind of like, that’s it. We’re not going back there.”

Jackie Cargill, who has worked in the control room for 42 years, was one of the three operators.

She said: “It was very challenging. The whole time we were getting radio messages updating us what was happening at the incident.”

Jackie says the team was “fortunate” no other incidents broke out that night.

By 11pm the fire was finally under control.

But firefighting continued into the night and the incident was not closed until 11.30am next day.