The Cheapside Street Disaster - March 28th - 1960
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Assistant Firemaster Swanson immediately sent another message, "Make Pumps 10. Send on six ambulances".
The initial search for survivors and casualties was started but was severely hampered due to the intensity of the fire. Firemen carried on with the task of controlling the raging fire that was sending flames and smoke high into the skies over Glasgow.
The fire grew rapidly and Divisional Officer John Evans described the scene as an "awe-inspiring fire of gigantic proportions". Along with the glow of flames and dense smoke in the sky, clouds of alcohol vapours drifted up through the air to ignite like giant distress flares, hundreds of feet above the city.
As crowds gathered, a BBC television crew arrived and tried to secure a brief interview with anyone who could speak about the disaster but fire and salvage operations were growing in intensity and urgency as the search for the missing men continued.
Firemaster Martin Chadwick had been on the scene long enough to ascertain that this fire was continuing to develop at great speed and at 8.20pm requested Area Control to firstly "Make pumps 15" and just eight minutes later made a further request to "Make pumps 20".