Scottish Fire and Rescue Service staff are marking the 48th anniversary of the disaster at Glasgow’s Necropolis.
The Kilbirnie Street fire, on Friday 25 August 1972, was a warehouse fire in the Port Eglinton area, on the south side of Glasgow, Scotland, which killed seven Glasgow Fire Service firemen in a flashover while they were trying to rescue a trapped colleague.[1] What started as a routine industrial premises fire resulted in one of the highest losses of life for the UK Fire Service at a single incident in peacetime.
Fireman Ian Bermingham had returned a day earlier from his Annual Leave in error. He was allocated kitchen duties but put his fire kit on a Fire engine. On returning from out duty he was aware the machines were leaving the Station to attend fire in Kilbirnie Street and ran to the last machine and managed to get on board. On arrival a shout was heard for a rescue crew. Fireman Bermingham joined the crew and remarked to the Officer in Charge - This is why I’have come back early - (he was surplus to requirements by turning up to work a day before he was due). On entering the loft with the crew they found Fireman Rook, trapped under fallen stock.
