Fire at Glasgow Central (08/03/26)

[deerokus]

Not criticism of the fire brigade, but 12 appliances remaining at the scene out of the previous 18 is not much of a stand down!

Does anyone know who occupied the upper floors? There is a clear entrance between shops but no signage. Google Streetview shows some mannequins in some of the second floor windows.

Mostly salons, tattoo parlours etc. I think some offices. lots of flammable stuff in there.

 

[Falcon1200]

Would they really keep Glasgow Central closed for a long period of time given it's a major station?

No. Even if there are safety concerns for the Union Street (east/Platform 1 side) of the station trains could run, with a limited service, from the other platforms further west.

Also the blue lagoon has been on fire 3 times so perhaps that area needs to be non retail?

The fire did not start in the Blue Lagoon. And the building concerned is not part of the station nor owned by any part of the railway - According to the BBC News it predates the station;

Glasgow Central Station: All trains cancelled as huge fire destroys neighbouring building

Dozens of services have been cancelled and the station will be closed until further notice.

www.bbc.co.uk

Known as Union Corner, at the junction of Union Street and Gordon Street, the B-listed building was constructed in 1851 and pre-dates the station itself which opened in 1879.

Regarding train services, running trains towards Glasgow Central but turning them short is in many cases next to unmanageable; Possible at Motherwell and Paisley Gilmour Street, staffed stations where trains operated by non-Glasgow Central based crews operate, but at Pollokshields East or West, Crossmyloof, Carfin, Holytown or Whifflet; Unlikely in the extreme. Apart from anything else, someone has to reorganise the train service, a task which will have kept, and will still be keeping, TOC and Network Rail staff fully occupied, if not overwhelmed.

 

[D1537]

Does anyone know who occupied the upper floors? There is a clear entrance between shops but no signage. Google Streetview shows some mannequins in some of the second floor windows.

Looks to be a few businesses there, including a heating supplier, and (no doubt to GBNews delight) an immigration lawyers.

 

[thejuggler]

Living in West Yorkshire this is a very similar fire to what occurs in the area on a regular basis. Once fire takes hold in a Victorian building if it isn't caught very early the building won't be saved.

They are tinder boxes, lots of old well seasoned timbers forming most if the structure. Staircases acting like chimneys, unknown voids and roof spaces. As soon as these timbers start burning structural integrity is lost and the building collapses. Textile mills are worse due to decades of oil and lanolin soaked timber which burns very fiercely.

The fire servuce will be there for many days, it only takes one smouldering timber to restart the fire. Demolition will take time, but it can be done quite quickly initially to remove the most dangerous sections, then assessment of neighbouring properties can be undertaken.

 

[Bletchleyite]

GBeebies blaming immigrants yet?

There's certainly plenty of connecting of that and vape shops on X. There are certainly questions to be asked on storage of cheap imported lithium batteries in such locations and indeed in homes, though. The ones used in vapes are usually of the lowest quality.

 

[bleeder4]

Has it actually been confirmed that the fire started in a vape shop? I can't see anything on the BBC feed that says it was a vape shop that was the culprit. Unless BBC are not reporting that due to it not fitting their narrative.

 

[Lewisham2221]

It was 100% a vape shop, see: https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/1rojauq/union_street_vape_shop/

Assume the lash boutique was one of the units above.

Looks more like a general "smoking" shop, than just a vape shop - not sure I can even see any vapes in that photo, although I'm not disputing the likelihood of them selling vapes, it certainly doesn't look like a "vape shop full of vapes" that I was expecting.

As well as the lithium batteries, are the vapes not made from plastic bodies containing flammable liquids, so from a fire safety point of view extremely hazardous when hundreds/thousands of them are stored in boxes in a shop? Did the shop have a suitable fire suppression system or sprinklers?

I am aware of several bin wagons that have gone up in flames due to batteries and these sort of things being put in the rubbish, and people need to be aware.

I've not heard of any new (i.e still packaged, sitting on the shelf, unused) lithium batteries exploding/self combusting though? Usually when charging or physically damaged?

 

[zwk500]

Has it actually been confirmed that the fire started in a vape shop? I can't see anything on the BBC feed that says it was a vape shop that was the culprit.

Not directly attributing it, but the reports are being reported on the BBC page:

The alarm was raised with reports of a fire in a vape shop

Unless BBC are not reporting that due to it not fitting their narrative.

Which narrative?

 

[Hedge Fund]

As usual on a Monday, I am travelling to Euston today, and I guess it's just a case of getting to the station earlier than usual and jumping on something.

But what I can't work out is why the timetable is showing 2 different trains leaving platform 4 at Carlisle, at the same time:

There are two trains listed at 13:12 from platform 4 - One with a change at crewe and one direct but via Birmingham.
There are two trains listed at 14:07 from platform 4 - One with a change at Crewe and one direct but via Birmingham.
and same again at 14:55, and so on.

Any ideas what this means?

 

[Warrior2852]

Taking a look at the timetables and Traksy, it seems the stranded units inside Central are:
2x 390/1 (11 coaches each, Avanti)
1x 397 (5 coaches, TPE)
1x 318 (3 coaches, ScotRail)
1x 380/0 (3 coaches, ScotRail)
4x 380/1 (4 coaches each, ScotRail)
2x 385/0 (3 coaches each, ScotRail)

 

[Lewisham2221]

As usual on a Monday, I am travelling to Euston today, and I guess it's just a case of getting to the station earlier than usual and jumping on something.

But what I can't work out is why the timetable is showing 2 different trains leaving platform 4 at Carlisle, at the same time:

There are two trains listed at 13:12 from platform 4 - One with a change at crewe and one direct but via Birmingham.
There are two trains listed at 14:07 from platform 4 - One with a change at Crewe and one direct but via Birmingham.
and same again at 14:55, and so on.

Any ideas what this means?

Edited for clarity:
It's the same train from Carlisle to Crewe.

You can stay on the train at Crewe and it continues to London, after a relatively slow and laborious crawl through the West Midlands.

Alternatively, you can get off at Crewe and change onto a "fast" train to London, which saves you 30+ minutes.

 

[zwk500]

As usual on a Monday, I am travelling to Euston today, and I guess it's just a case of getting to the station earlier than usual and jumping on something.

But what I can't work out is why the timetable is showing 2 different trains leaving platform 4 at Carlisle, at the same time:

There are two trains listed at 13:12 from platform 4 - One with a change at crewe and one direct but via Birmingham.
There are two trains listed at 14:07 from platform 4 - One with a change at Crewe and one direct but via Birmingham.
and same again at 14:55, and so on.

Any ideas what this means?

2 separate itineraries, both taking the same train from Carlisle for the first portion.

 

[ld0595]

I'd imagine the units stuck inside the station will need some ventilation before going back into service. Briefly popped into my office this morning to pick up some equipment and there was a strong smell of smoke inside, despite it being on the opposite side of the station.

 

[Hedge Fund]

Go via Birmingham on the through train, which takes longer, or get off at Crewe and change to a "fast" London, and get there quicker.

Ah right, thanks. That makes sense.

 

[DarloRich]

seems very lucky the fire did not spread to the station - the pictures above look like something from the blitz.

Unless BBC are not reporting that due to it not fitting their narrative.

eh? its a fire..................

 

[35B]

Has it actually been confirmed that the fire started in a vape shop? I can't see anything on the BBC feed that says it was a vape shop that was the culprit. Unless BBC are not reporting that due to it not fitting their narrative.

The BBC are reporting (9:41) "The fire started in a vape shop at 15:45 on Union Street on Sunday afternoon, with the B-listed Victorian building collapsing several hours later as flames spread." That also links to a longer form article (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w5yjjylzzo) timed at 8:18.

"Their narrative" will have been that they don't speculate on cause, and refrain from reporting until the claim can be sourced.

 

[ZackCulross]

A video on X shows the vape shop smoking and subsequent battery explosions after someone trying to put it out

 

[bleeder4]

The BBC are reporting (9:41) "The fire started in a vape shop at 15:45 on Union Street on Sunday afternoon, with the B-listed Victorian building collapsing several hours later as flames spread." That also links to a longer form article (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w5yjjylzzo) timed at 8:18.

"Their narrative" will have been that they don't speculate on cause, and refrain from reporting until the claim can be sourced.

Great, thank you. The link on their page was taking me to their live feed, so I didn't realise they had a full article about it. That's a much more helpful summary than the live feed.

 

[cats_five]

It was 100% a vape shop, see: https://preview.redd.it/union-stree...bp&s=e14faf7c5b7d4903c632418ba1e3b94903092538 for a photo of it, from someone on Reddit.

Assume the lash boutique was one of the units above.

Ah it's clearer in that video and from the photo that it was indeed a vape shop, or some sort of smoking related shop.

 

[fisher2511]

As usual, no thought of passengers from the Largs line. The hourly train is being terminated at Kilwinning at 32 minutes past the hour. There is an hourly service from Ayr to Paisley, which leaves Kilwinning at 27 minutes past the hour, so a 55 minute wait at Kilwinning. The return journey arrives at Kilwinning at 27 minutes past the hour. The Largs train leaves Kilwinning at 21 minutes past the hour. As far as I can see, trains are not being held at Kilwinning to ease the connection.

 

[Statto]

Has it actually been confirmed that the fire started in a vape shop? I can't see anything on the BBC feed that says it was a vape shop that was the culprit. Unless BBC are not reporting that due to it not fitting their narrative.

& what narrative is that, it's a major fire that has caused widespread disruption, plus BBC never speculate on the cause.

 

[TUC]

They don't. Neither will Glasgow Central crews. Only Motherwell and Yoker drivers now, and no conductors because its only served by DOO services now - that means that even though you could maybe dig up drivers to route conduct, you couldn't dig up anyone to route conduct the conductor so it's more or less impossible to run (drivers cannot conduct guards).

Whilst it's too late to do anything about it for this occasion, it is surprising that emergency planning for a major station like Glasgow Central being out of service does not include a sufficient number of staff being signed for the alternative stations and routes that would form part of the plan.

 

[ZackCulross]

& what narrative is that, it's a major fire that has caused widespread disruption, plus BBC never speculate on the cause.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

As usual on a Monday, I am travelling to Euston today, and I guess it's just a case of getting to the station earlier than usual and jumping on something.

But what I can't work out is why the timetable is showing 2 different trains leaving platform 4 at Carlisle, at the same time:

There are two trains listed at 13:12 from platform 4 - One with a change at crewe and one direct but via Birmingham.
There are two trains listed at 14:07 from platform 4 - One with a change at Crewe and one direct but via Birmingham.
and same again at 14:55, and so on.

Any ideas what this means?

From Carlisle, the xx48/50 is direct to Euston (non-stop from Warrington), while the xx07/10 is via Birmingham and stops also at Crewe, but both are through trains.
You can change from the via Birmingham at Crewe and pick up a faster train via the Trent Valley.
While there are cancellations because of the fire at Glasgow Central, most of the Avanti services appear to be running (Glasgow trains starting at Motherwell).

 

[Harpo]

Until the costs come back to hit them in the form of higher council tax, but that's lost in the general maximum 4.9999% council tax increase every year anyway.

For those lucky enough to be capped at 4.999%.

 

[Buzby]

And the building concerned is not part of the station nor owned by any part of the railway - According to the BBC News it predates the station;

It may pre-date the station frontage, but the entire square block had already been cleared to aid the construction and required the removal of ‘Grahamston’ and two cobbled streets (one of which is visible on the Station Tour.). There are three levels of undercroft below the concourse, the original station (P1 to P9) was served by the new Clyde bridge when the tracks were extended from the original Bridge Street terminus. The unused land they did not require was sold to commercial interests on the east side, but it would be wrong to suggest the station was built ‘after’. Caledonian retained the north and west sides for their offices (changed to a hotel).

 

[WestAnglian]

Where does it stop though. Don't mobile phones use similar battery types?

What we don't know yet, is what exactly was in that shop. The lack of any decent signage outside suggests all kinds of things could have been stored inside. We all know the risks of poorly built batteries following the hover board fires so perhaps the vapes in there were dodgy batteries. As usual, we will need to wait for the investigation to conclude.

Vape shops have cheap lithium batteries with little or no quality control and a lot of inflammable liquid. An operator-owned mobile phone shop should be better as the batteries are from reuptable manufacturers. A third-party mobile phone shop, however, may have dangerous batteries - and they often sell vapes.

 

[thejuggler]

https://x.com/i/status/2030773851915796757

This video shows the vape shop smoking and subsequent battery explosions after someone trying to put it out

Well done for trying, but the battle was already lost.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Well done for trying, but the battle was already lost.

Indeed. There's a lot of misunderstanding on X about water and lithium battery/electrical fires in the context of this story. In actual fact, water is an effective way to cool a lithium battery fire (though you need rather more of it for a fire that size than you'll get from spraying a small fire extinguisher through the doorway). Lithium salts don't combust when they meet water in the same way as the elemental lithium you saw your science teacher blow up in school.

The explosion will have been unconnected to the use of the water, it'll just have been another few cells going up.

Indeed, it's very likely a water sprinkler system would have brought something like this under control before it got quite as bad as it did.

 

[jon0844]

https://x.com/i/status/2030773851915796757

I'm intrigued to know what the narrative supposedly is, and why the BBC are 'hiding it from the world'. I think I can hear a dog whistle in there somewhere, but surely nobody is going to announce the exact cause of the fire until there's been a proper investigation?

It would seem that it is likely a dodgy battery from the videos circulating, but I suspect that some people are want to imply something more sinister. Perhaps based on who usually work in vape shops (including phone repairs) which in my experience are nearly always non-white. I'm not about to log in to X but I am 99% certain there's going to be extremely crazy takes on there.