Fire caused £5000 of damage to workshop

A fire believed to have been caused by the `fusing of an electrical wire damaged business premises and prompted people to flee a nearby tenement , the Observer of October 1929 reported.

The fire – which caused £5000 worth of damage (more than £300,000 in today’s money) – broke out in the workshop and furniture store occupied by Mr Alexander Sands, joiner and auctioneer, Dumbarton Road, Stirling.

It was around 2.30am one morning that Miss Campbell Keay, who lived opposite, saw a reflection of flames in her window and raised the alarm with the woman with whom she resided, Mrs Blyth.

She in turn roused her son John who, only partly dressed, rushed into the street and warned people in the nearby tenement of the potential danger.

Firefighters arrived as the flames broke through the roof of the workshop and furniture store.

Soon, the sound of breaking glass and falling masonry plus the smoke and glare of the fire awakened many people living nearby and a bid crowd gathered at the scene.

The tenement, separated from the burning building only by a narrow road, was for a time in danger from the fire and that led many of its occupants to evacuate the building.

Seven sets of hoses, four from the Dumbarton Road side and three from Port Street, were used to tackle the flames.

And it took more than an hour before firefighters were confident that the blaze was confined to the building from which it originated.

Flames also damaged the roof and wall of the workshop of Messrs J&J Duff plumbers and threatened a garage and a stable and grain store of Messrs D&J McEwen.

The joiners’workshop plus valuable equipment and wood were destroyed, and a motorcycle and car belonging to Mr John Rose, fruiterer, who used part of the premises, were also lost. The sale room was gutted and valuable furniture and paintings burned.

It as understood by the paper that the damage caused by the fire was covered by insurance.