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The Photos
"I was looking at this photo of the fire at
C&A Modes and the comment that the fire seemed to have been damped down.
This was one of the strangest experiences I have ever had.
©
I was actually standing in the centre of the
road leaning on a traffic bollard with my back to the camera. The date was
November the 8th and the time of this photo would be 7.50 a.m."
Firefighting
"The reason I was there was that, as a boy, I
was fascinated by firefighting. This fascination was the result of
one of my uncles being the fire master in Penicuik. I used to visit
him with my mother, his sister.
The fire master's house was also where the air
raid siren was based and this doubled as the fire siren. I was able to sit
on the fire engine and the whole process I found most thrilling."
Jeffrey Street Fire
"I used to deliver early morning rolls for
Nairn the Baker from their Rodney Street Shop. We started at 6.30
a.m. and on that morning the van was slightly late. The driver
informed he had stopped on the bridges to look at an enormous fire burning
in Jeffrey Street.
I delivered the rolls in rapid quick time and
jumped on a tram to the bridges. The fire was still burning fiercely but
the building had collapsed across Jeffrey Street and over Market Street
and some of the debris was on the railway. I went down the Scotsman Steps
to get nearer but is was obvious that the spectacular part of the fire was
over."
C&A Fire
"I decided that I would go home and set off to
walk up the Waverley Bridge, but as I was passing the station carriageway
someone shouted that C&A was on fire.
It was difficult to see that this was the
case, but standing on the traffic island I saw that the window to my left
had been burned out. There were no flames but the clothes on the
dummies were smouldering and burnt.
The fire engines arrived. A ladder was
put up to the balcony and three firemen climbed up and broke a window to
allow entry. At this point it looked as if some slight smoke was
seeping from between the stones in the walls
A very old fashioned escape ladder arrived and
parked at the side of Forsyths in St David's Street and a more modern
escape ladder parked at the front. The firemen suddenly re-appeared and
came down the ladder with great rapidity."
The Fire Takes Hold
"A small glow was seen to the left which in no
time became a roaring fire, consuming the rows of clothes as it spread
across the first floor, blowing the glass in the windows. The photo shown
was taken just before this happened.
The building turned out to be ablaze from top
to bottom. So the turntable ladder was set-up with the hoses
pouring water into the building. All this time the trams were
running back and forth. Some conductors just about fell off the cars
trying to see what was happening; others just did not appear to notice at
all."
The Crowd
"I was eventually moved to the pavement in
front of the Old Waverley Market and the crowds grew and grew. What was
strange was that there were stories in the crowd about there being
numerous fires in Edinburgh:
- 'The Palace, Leith was
ablaze.'
- 'A whisky bond was on
fire in Gorgie.''
- 'The Lyceum Slateford
had lost its roof.'
- 'The Glasgow Fire
Brigade had sent a fleet of fire engines which were on route to
beleaguered Edinburgh.
All of this was nonsense, of course. The
Evening papers picked up on this and it was an interesting experience.
I arrived home after nine to find my mother in
a state of panic. There were no mobiles in those days and we did not have
a phone at home either.
The Fire Continues to Burn
"The building burned on for the rest of the
day. By evening, it was just a shell. By Saturday, wooden
walkways were constructed in the shell and the shop held a fire sale.
There were no health and safety rules in those days, and how nobody was
injured was a miracle!
The fire sale goods were being delivered
in the back door as, to be sure, nothing much was left of the store's
stock."
Jim Suddon: August 19, 2012 |
