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{Main Text Table}
A1 Central ( Ingram Street ) Glasgow
This part of the
site charts the opening of Ingram Street Fire station from the 1900
opening, to its closure
and is a reproduction from the opening programme and other reports.
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The following is taken from
the commemorative brochure celebrating the opening of the Central
Fire Station on
May 1st
1900
 The
case which led to an organisation for the extinction of fires in
Glasgow was the Great Fire which occurred on 17th July
1652 and by which nearly one third of the City was destroyed. It
might be supposed that active measures would at once have been taken
for the prevention of a recurrence of such a disaster, but the
Council of the day seems to have acted with more than proverbial
Scotch caution. Four years after this fire we find (Memorabilia
of Glasgow p.139) that “Bailie Walkingschawe and Dekin Conveiner”
were to meit with James Colquhoune and to grie with him anent the
making of the ingyne for the castying of watter for land that is
in fyre, as they have in Edinburghe. In the following year (1657)
the Council ordained “James Bornis to have ane warrand for the soume
of twentie fyve pund stairling, debursit be him to James Colquhoune
for the pryce of the ingyne laitlie maid be the said James Colquhoune”:
and on the 13th of June of that year the Council resolved
“that the ingyne laitlie maid be James Colquhoune, be saitlit neir
himself, and the Mr. of Wark mack ane hous of daillis thairto”
This is the first mention of a fire engine in Glasgow, and the “hous
of daillis” or wooden shed was Glasgow’s first fire station.
At
the beginning of the century Glasgow had no permanent fire brigade.
The Superintendent of the Fire Engines was a master slater, carrying
on his business  in
town or country, and residing within the City whenever he might
please : The Fireman were ordinary tradesman in the City. The fire
drum to call out the fireman was beat off from the main guard hose,
Candleriggs, by the regimental drummer on duty. On midnight alarms
her was escorted by two men of the military guard. It was usual
for the guard to assist at fires by keeping the ground clear, and
on occasions of large fires the guard was sometimes reinforced by
two or three hundred men from the infantry barracks.
There were six manual engines in Glasgow of a
pattern now obsolete which could not be used for the conveyance
of men : no provision  was
made for horses and the men had in almost all cases to draw the
engine to the scene of the fire. The engines were located, one
at the Meat Market, one at the Potato Market, two at the Wynd Church,
one at Hutcheson’s  Hospital,
and one in Lang’s Callander Close, and were to all intents fixtures
in their respective stations until an officer of Police or one of
the City Magistrates, had been given an order to have them taken
out. The time lost in procuring the key of the station would in
almost every case exceed the time taken to reach the scene of the
fire today. There was no regular staff, and in many cases it was
more difficult to get the fireman than it was to obtain access to
the engines.
Early in the century the Principal station
was situated in Bell Street, behind the Police Office, and was in
use up till the end of1851, when the Central Station in College
Street, now vacated , was erected.
In 1815, it was decided that the Superintendent
of the Fire Engines should devote his whole time to that of his
office. Since that case the following have held the appointment.
1st. James Black appointed
1st February 1816
2nd. James Davidson appointed
23rd. September
1824
3rd. Peter McGregor appointed
25th July 1833
4th. William Robertson appointed
5th June 1835
5th. Chas. Forsyth appointed
13th December 1847
6th. Alex. Turner appointed
5th March 1849
7th. James Bryson appointed
1st December 1855
8th. William Paterson
appointed 1st November 1884.
The
following comparison will show how the organisation for the extinction
of fires has grown since the beginning of the century:-
In 1826 there were 152 Firecocks in the
City—at this date there are 5,881; then there were only 250yds of
Hose, as against 81/2 miles at the present time,
The cost of the Fire Department for the
year 1820 was about £300 ; It has now reached an annual expenditure
of £15,000.
The number of fires in 1820 was 14 ; last year
they numbered 712. The City is now supplied with 11 Steam Fire
Engines, 10 Hose and Ladder Carriages each carrying nearly half
a mile of hose, 4 Fire Escapes, 500 feet of Scaling Ladders, &c.
There are now 121 men (all auxiliaries being
discontinued in 1892) , and 38 horses belonging to the Brigade,
as against 11 in 1884. There are 10 stations, 6 of which have been
erected since 1885.
The system of street electric fire alarms which
was inaugurated by Glasgow in 1878, has extended so rapidly that
there are now in use in the City over 200 call points.
On an alarm of fire being received at a station,
it is instantly communicated to the nearest station, and also to
the Central Fire Station, and is attended to by the two stations
nearest the fire, a steamer being ran from one and a hose and ladder
carriage from the other.
On each machine is carried a portable telephone,
which on the arrival of the machine at the scene of the fire, is
immediately attached to the nearest fire alarm, and by this means
telephonic communications with the Central Fire Station is established,
and information as to the nature and extent of the fire reported.
This system which has been proved most valuable, has been in use
since 1891 – Glasgow being the first city to adopt it.
Description
of the new central fire station
The new Central Fire Station now completed, promises
to be in every way as suitable as the old one it replaces was suitable
for the purposes of the City Fire Brigade. A more central might
have been desirable but would have been both difficult and expensive
to obtain.
The shape of the site unsymmetrical,
as the plan reproduced on pages 9 and 10 shows. It extends to about
three fourths of an acre and cost £22,750.
The
station has two frontages, that in Ingram Street – four storeys
in height – being the principal. 
On the ground floor to the right of the entrance are the Watch Room,
and the Engine House with accommodation for four machines. The
offices are to the left, and comprise of the Chief Officer’s Room,
Officers’ and Clerks’ Rooms, &c. Immediately to the rear of
the Engine House and opening into it, are stalls for eight horses,
and behind this is the Fodder House, spare Stables, Machine and
Harness Rooms. On the first floor, over the Engine House, are two
Duty Rooms, provided with sliding poles. A passage across the roof
of the Stable communicates with the Recreation Rooms. The remainder
of this floor and the floors above are occupied by the Officers’
Houses.
 The
Engine House wall are lined with a beautiful selection of Grecian
marble and polished granite, and the floors are laid with oak blocks
 The
High Street block is five storeys in height. The four upper floors
are occupied by the Firemen and their families, the ground floor
being occupied by shops.
At the south side of the Courtyard is
a block of buildings containing on the ground floor, Rooms for spare
machines, Workshops for Boot-making, hose repairing, engineering
work, joinering, coach painting, and plumbing; and on the three
floors above are the houses for the Fireman and their families. 
Behind this building is situated the children’s playground. Facing
this block on the other side of the Courtyard, a range of one-storey
Offices is built, comprising Washouses, Laundry, Drying Room, Smithy,
oil Store, Electric Shop &c ; In the south-west corner of the
Courtyard is the Hose-drying Tower, rising to a height of 93 feet,
having on the top a test room for all fire alarm telegraph and telephone
lines; adjoining this is the Gymnasium, 55 feet long and 25 feet
broad; and underneath is a Store for wood and iron.
In every fireman’s house is a bath, supplied
with hot water from a steam boiler, which also supplies the water
for heating and for domestic use throughout the station.
The buildings throughout are lit by electricity.
All pipes, drains, and electric-light lines,
also the telegraph, telephone, fire alarm, and the house bell connections,
are contained in a subway which connects all the buildings.
The elevation to Ingram Street is of
handsome design, well broken up with oriels, gables, pilasters,
and carving, but not overladen with ornament—polished granite being
carried to the first cornice. Above this, Locharbriggs red sandstone
is used. The elevation to High Street is built of the same materials
as that to Ingram Street, but in less ornate in character.
The Station being built on the barracks
principal, access to the firemen’s houses can only be had from the
Ingram Street entrance, and thus every person entering or leaving
the station is under observation from the watchroom.
The cost of the buildings will be about
£40,000.
  
The plans were prepared and the work
carried out under the superintendence of Mr A. B. McDonald, M.Inst.C.E.,
City Engineer.
1907 fire appliance in Glasgow 
College street Fire station ( now
gone )
Some of the Central Fire Station Personnel
in 1941
L - R Jimmy Watt (later Assistant Firemaster) Alec
Campbell Lachie Wright
Front Row L - R George Henderson
Bill(dad)Golby
View to the interior of the Control room in Ingram
Street in the late 50's
Below Typical Wheeled Escape of the 50's to 70's era
at a weight of 7 ton 13 hundredweight unloaded, as marked on the
bottom locker below the crew door.
View inside the same Control room during 1967
THE GLASGOW FIRE BRIGADE
SONG
Sung to the tune of "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon."
Around her leg she wore a yellow garter, She wore it in the summer
and she wore it in the fall; And, if you ask her why the hell she
wore it , She wore it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade
. Chorus: Fire Brigade, Fire Brigade, she wore it for her lover
in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.
Around the park she pushed her perambulator, She pushed it in
the summer and she pushed it in the fall; And, if you ask her why
the hell she pushed it , She pushed it for her lover in the Glasgow
Fire Brigade.
Chorus: Fire Brigade, Fire Brigade, she pushed it for her lover
in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.
Behind the door her father kept a shotgun, He kept it in the summer
and he kept it in the fall; And, if you ask him why the hell he
kept it , He kept it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.
Chorus: Fire Brigade, Fire Brigade, he kept it for her lover in
the Glasgow Fire Brigade.
Upon his grave she planted a bunch of roses, She planted it in
the summer and she planted it in the fall; And, if you ask her why
the hell he planted it , She planted it for her lover in the Glasgow
Fire Brigade.
Chorus: Fire Brigade, Fire Brigade, she planted it for her lover
in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.
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