Strathclyder
Established Member
Glasgow fire: Art school's Mackintosh building ravaged
Unbelievable that this has happened again; just over 4 years after the last blaze & mere weeks after the Charles Rennie Mackintosh 150th anniversary celebrations. From what I can see, this confligation appears to have originated in the 1899 (east) wing, with it then spreading to the 1909 (west) wing, the area of the building devastated by the 2014 fire & where restoration work was ongoing. This fire sadly looks to be much worse than the last one, with the whole of the building engulfed & the flames spreading to adjacent structures, namely the Campus nightclub and O2 ABC concert venue.
The only silver lining of this whole sorry affair is that no fatalities have resulted from this blaze. The bravery and selflessness of the emergency services must once again be commended. At this stage, it is far too early to properly gauge the future of 'The Mac' going forward after this or to speculate the cause of the fire, but things most certainly look bleak.
Of all the things to wake up to, it just had to be this...
Glasgow's world-renowned School of Art has been gutted by another huge blaze, four years after part of the building was destroyed by fire.
Flames ripped through the celebrated Mackintosh building after it caught fire at around 23:20 BST on Friday.
The blaze has spread to nearby buildings, including the Campus nightclub and O2 ABC music venue, which suffered "extensive damage".
No casualties have been reported, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said.
Efforts to bring the fires under control are expected to be "prolonged", Deputy Chief Officer Iain Bushell said.
More than 120 firefighters have been sent to the scene and are faced with "an extremely challenging and complex incident", he added.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service deputy assistant Peter Heath said "pockets of fire" remain, but were under control.
He said the School of Art building had been "extensively damaged" and that all floors were affected.
"We remain firefighting in what is a very challenging situation," he added.
Inspector Catherine McNally, of Police Scotland, praised the response of both the public and nearby licensed premises which were asked to evacuate.
The Mackintosh building was badly damaged by fire in May 2014 and was due to re-open next year following a £20 -35m restoration project.
Ben, an eyewitness, told the BBC the latest fire looked "much worse" than the previous one.
"This is a blaze, the building is just going up like a tinderbox. It's quite shocking," he said.
Connor Neil, 22, said people were being evacuated from their homes and there was a "big orange light" which could be seen from streets away.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-44504659
Unbelievable that this has happened again; just over 4 years after the last blaze & mere weeks after the Charles Rennie Mackintosh 150th anniversary celebrations. From what I can see, this confligation appears to have originated in the 1899 (east) wing, with it then spreading to the 1909 (west) wing, the area of the building devastated by the 2014 fire & where restoration work was ongoing. This fire sadly looks to be much worse than the last one, with the whole of the building engulfed & the flames spreading to adjacent structures, namely the Campus nightclub and O2 ABC concert venue.
The only silver lining of this whole sorry affair is that no fatalities have resulted from this blaze. The bravery and selflessness of the emergency services must once again be commended. At this stage, it is far too early to properly gauge the future of 'The Mac' going forward after this or to speculate the cause of the fire, but things most certainly look bleak.
Of all the things to wake up to, it just had to be this...
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