Pub blaze fireman 'died to save lives of others'

MORE than 20 people rescued from a tenement building as a major blaze ripped through a pub owe their lives to the bravery of a firefighter who died at the scene, a fire chief said last night.

Ewan Williamson, 35, was killed when a floor in the Balmoral bar in Edinburgh collapsed yesterday. The residents, including a baby, were rescued from the three-storey tenement above the pub in the city's Dalry Road.

Brian Allaway, chief fire officer with Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, said his force had been left "absolutely devastated".

He added: "The people who were rescued would not have been rescued if he had not been there."

Mr Williamson, from Edinburgh, is survived by his mother, two sisters, and his girlfriend.

In a statement last night, the family said: "This has come as a horrific shock to the family. Ewan was a wonderful, kind, sporty and outgoing person who was loved by everyone. He loved the fire service. We would ask that the public remember members of the service who risk their lives every day."

Mr Allaway said: "Our service is a very close-knit community and we are all absolutely devastated by this loss. The thoughts of every single member of this service are with the firefighter's family. This is a tragic day for us."

He added that morale among crews on the scene was "pretty low" but added: "The firefighters are behaving professionally." He also said counselling would be available. "We will give our firefighters every support they need."

Another firefighter who was injured and taken to hospital was allowed home last night. Fire crews were called shortly after midnight yesterday and about 70 firefighters and 16 fire engines rushed to the scene.

As the fire raged, residents above whose homes faced the building's back garden had to get on to their window ledges and try to breathe through thick smoke before climbing down ladders carried by firefighters. Residents whose homes faced on to Dalry Road were rescued by turntable ladder.

Ewan Cowe, 47, a security guard who lives directly above the pub, said the stairwell had been full of dense smoke and that he escaped by putting a T-shirt over his face and feeling his way down by touching the stair wall.

David Lithgow, 27, who lives in the same block as the pub, said he heard shouting in the back garden at about 12:45am but assumed it was people being rowdy until he saw firefighters shining torches.

Mr Lithgow, an IT analyst, said: "They were telling people to stay at the windows and get air. That went on for about half an hour. I went out into the street to see what was happening and saw the firefighters breaking windows at the front of the pub and unreeling hoses and taking them through the stair to the back.

"Just after 2am the firefighters started to break down the back door of the pub and went in. About half an hour later things started to get quite frantic.

"Although there had been access through the door no-one seemed able to get back in and other firefighters used cutters to try to cut through metal bars on a window beside the door.

"A couple of paramedics pulled a firefighter out the window. He had breathing apparatus on but there was no attempt to revive him and they covered his face with a blanket.

"You understand the risk that they take but it is quite shocking to see a firefighter pulled out dead like that."

As the fire continued to smoulder yesterday, 12 hours after it started, and with around 14 fire engines and 30 firefighters in attendance, residents spoke of being woken by the smell of smoke.

Mary O'Neill, 67, who lives in Dalry Road, said: "It's an absolute shame that someone with such a noble job loses his life like that. My heart goes out to the poor man's family.

"I woke up in the middle of the night with the smoke but thought it was teenagers mucking around. Then a neighbour told me it was a fire.

"I put on my dressing gown and went as fast as I could to Downfield Place where my niece and her husband live to make sure they were safe and bring them to my flat."

Kiran Dhandarphale, 28, a systems analyst, who lives in Downfield Place, about 50 yards from the Balmoral pub said: "I looked out the window and there was thick black smoke everywhere. You couldn't see even a few yards in front of you."

Firefighters used the forecourt of a garage across the road from the pub as a make-shift base with yellow tarpaulins spread out on the ground for equipment. The area in front of the pub was strewn with charred tables and chairs and large pieces of broken window frames.

Nearby bus shelters were being used as temporary cover for firefighters taking breaks.

Describing the scene that met the firefighters, Mr Allaway said: "Our crews on arrival were confronted with a very severe fire, and while tackling that fire, a breathing apparatus crew of two firefighters were injured by the collapse of an internal floor.

"Tragically, and despite the best efforts of all his colleagues at the incident one of those firefighters lost his life."

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill described the firefighter's death as "dreadful news". "My thoughts and condolences are with the dead firefighter's family. It is typical of the professionalism of our firefighters that, despite the tragic loss of one of their colleagues, they continued to tackle the blaze and secure the safety of the building and neighbouring properties."

The cause of the blaze is not yet known, but deputy chief fire officer Alex Clark, who was the incident commander, said it appeared to have started in the basement of the bar, which was closing at around that time.

Mr Clark said: "Investigations will be going on to fully ascertain how the fire started."

A spokesman for the fire service last night said the fire had been extinguished and that over the next few days investigators would try to establish how it started. Both the fire service and police are involved in the investigation, along with the Health and Safety Executive.

Tributes to Mr Williamson were posted on the website GoneTooSoon.co.uk last night. One, from Caroline Marsden, read:

"My thoughts are with you, your family and colleagues at this sad time. May you now be at peace xxx".

Another, from Sue Heaney, said: "Rest in eternal peace."

WORST TRAGEDY

THE worst peacetime tragedy in the history of the British fire service took place on 28 March, 1960 when 14 firefighters and five salvage personnel lost their lives in an explosion while tackling a blaze at the Arbuckle Smith whisky warehouse in Cheapside Street in Glasgow.

They were killed when an explosion blew out the whole side of the building, propelling hundreds of tons of masonry on to the men below.