Horror blaze remembered
ALMOST 50 YEARS ON SINCE THE JAMES WATT STREET FIRE... ONE RELATIVE TELLS OF THE DEVASTING IMPACT ON HER FAMILY
THE daughter of one of 22 people killed in the James Watt Street fire has spoken of her grief.
Joyce Davies will remember her father at a memorial service being held in Glasgow to mark the 50th anniversary of the devastating fire.
FIFTY years later, Joyce Davies can still remember the last kiss she ever received from her dad.
Hugh Fulton Brown went to work on the frosty morning of November 18, 1968. His eight-year-old daughter never saw him again.
Mr Brown, 36, worked at the upholstery factory of A.J. and S. Stern in James Watt Street, Glasgow.
Fire broke out at around 10.30am. Horrified eyewitnesses watched helplessly as people, trapped behind ironbarred windows in the upper floors of the burning building, screamed for help, beating the windows with furniture in a vain attempt to escape. Onlookers shouted at firemen to “get the bars off”, but the sheer intensity of the blaze and the dense smoke made rescue efforts impossible.
Firefighters who entered the building found that fire-escape doors had been padlocked from the inside.
A number of young people were among the 22 who lost their lives. One girl of 15 died alongside her mum.
The tragedy stunned Scotland and led to major changes in fire safety in factories. It took place only 400 yards from Cheapside Street, where 14 Glasgow firefighters and five members of the Glasgow Salvage Corps died while fighting a serious fire at a whisky warehouse on March 28, 1960.
“In terms of lives lost,” say Alan Forbes and Jim Smith in Tinderbox Heroes, their book about
Glasgow’s postwar fire service, “the fire at A J & S Stern’s factory eclipsed all the other dreadful fires that gave postwar Glasgow its Tinderbox City reputation.”
Bereaved relatives told the fatal accident inquiry of fears of fire at the factory that had led to threats of a strike. Other witnesses described the factory as a “death-trap” and a “madhouse.”
The jury said the fire was probably caused by some smoking material, carelessly discarded by an unspecified person, which ignited a large quantity of inflammable material stored on the mezzanine floor.
It found that 20 of the deaths were due to the fault and negligence of the firm and of Samuel Stern and his late brother Julius, who died in the blaze.
Mrs Davies, who lives in the Shetland islands, recalls her own mother struggling to raise four children on her own. “Her personal devastation sadly meant that my dad was never mentioned again. It was like he never existed at all.”
Mrs Davies says she thinks of her father every day and that the sense of “enormous loss” she felt has shaped her life every day since.
On Sunday, the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, she will be present at Glasgow’s St Andrew’s Cathedral at the midday Mass, which will remember the deceased and their relatives.
She said: “I’m over the moon that a service is happening on Sunday
‘‘ The James Watt Street Fire was a shocking tragedy that cost 22 people their lives
because really there has been fifty years of silence over the victims of the fire.
“The city has never seemed to remember the James Watt Street fire or to have recognised the decades of grief it meant for twentytwo families.
“My longer-term goal is to get some sort of official commemoration or statue to them.”
Mrs Davies added: “I was never told what has happened. I didn’t go to the funeral, I didn’t go to the vigil mass that was held after it.
“My mum was so traumatised by what had happened that she never talked about my dad again.
“It was just too painful to discuss it.
“She lived until she was 80 and I never heard her mention him for the rest of her life.
“I grew up in a silence surrounding his death, but it led me to try to understand what was going on, and I ended up working as an NHS clinical psychologist, trying to find some meaning in what happened to my dad.
“The jury made firm recommendations, prohibiting the bars on factory windows, and controls on the storage and use of foam plastics and other inflammable materials.
“They changed a lot of things in factories and work-places and though 22 people died, many other lives have been saved as a consequence.”
Bailie John Kane said: “The James Watt Street Fire was a shocking tragedy that cost 22 people their lives.
“More than 100 fire fighters bravely tackled the blaze.
“On the 50th anniversary of this disaster, I hope this Commemoration Mass brings comfort to the bereaved family members and everyone else affected.
“This horrific incident led to changes in legislation to help keep people safe at work.”
Archbishop Tartaglia told the church’s Flourish magazine: “I will be glad to offer the 12 noon Mass for all who were affected by the tragedy.
“Anniversaries like this are so important to those who suffered and it’s good that we gather together in times like this to remember, to pray and to grieve.”