A while back I was given a copy of The Fireman – The Senior Fire Prevention Journal, dated March 1958. That's 50 years ago and things have certainly changed in the Fire Service.
Tucked away near the back of this issue was the following report of a fire. Have a read and see if you think firefighters would have to do the same now. If any firefighters are reading this and have such a 'high-rise' risk on their patch perhaps you could tell us what would happen now…
Firemen 700ft. up Fight TV Blaze
Firemen clung to girders 700ft. above the ground to fight a fire on the B.B.C. television mast at Kirk o'Shotts on January 19.For two hours, in a freezing wind, strapped to the struts, they struggled with extinguishers to quell a blazing plastic-lined cylinder.
Kirk o'Shotts towers over the bleak Lanarkshire moorland between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Climbed by Ladder
The men, a station officer and a fireman from Motherwell, were taken 550ft. up the mast in a small hoist, then climbed another 150ft. by steel ladders.The fire, thought to have been caused by an electrical fault, began while B.B.C. engineers were working on the mast.
Can you believe that? Strapped to a girder, 700 feet above the ground and clinging to a fire extinguisher. Men of steel back in those days. The tower at Canary Wharf (One Canada Square) is only 70 foot taller!
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