Glasgow Central is on Fire!

[weareallqueens]

The fire started in a vape shop, apparently but seems utterly out of control now. No trains in or out of the station. Has hit the Grand Central Hotel too.

At the moment, yes, Network Rail are saying no visible damage to the station. Obviously it’s closed now though, I guess until the building which was on fire is made safe and any damage is assessed. I guess access to the station from the Union Street side will also be limited. (Edited to add: Netwrok Rail said they will assess at first light, presumably they need to also be cleared by the fire service to enter the station)

The scenes last night and this morning are upsetting. So sorry for all the people who have lost their businesses and it’s just awful to see a nineteenth century building in the centre of Glasgow destroyed. Heroic efforts by the firefighters and I am glad they managed to contain it spreading.

Agree about the football as well, a roundabout near me was defaced already with football colours yesterday morning.

The shops deserve the vitriol. They are actively detrimental to their local area and worse by far than an empty shop. They are blighting so many towns and cities and making them look even more rundown than they already are and taking up far too many spaces that businesses that would actively contribute to their communities could use. Their numbers should be severely limited.

Yes it can struggle with very recent information, and there's not actually recent street view of the shop - last street view is from 2024.
It also recently argued very confidently with me that some footage of an influencer getting assaulted in Ghana, was from South Africa! I had to show the damn thing a news story to get it to grudgingly apologise.

I also thought this was in Chat for some reason.

Honestly I don’t even want to think of the amount of architectural loss Glasgow has suffered over the years, it's heartbreaking.

Id expect the fire has started by lithium batteries. Personally I vape but hate the huge roll out of vape shops everywhere - I buy online! Not that that makes any difference but I do hate how our high streets look now. Half of them are money laundering operations anyway

Regardless of this, I would hope that a fire such as this will encourage regulations that vape shops - or indeed any building that stores lithium batteries indoors - have to demonstrate that their building has been fire proofed and providing an automatic immediate way to extinguish a lithium battery fire - ceiling mounted foam sprays? There’s got to be some way to prevent another fire like this

Shout out for the Vocco hotel which had to be evacuated. We spent a lovely evening there recently. The magnificent champagne bar is glass fronted and looks into the station. I think historically it was the Central Hotel? There are photos inside of film stars who stayed there. I hope it’s not damaged.

https://x.com/sailormooncup/status/2030789395217826180

Here's the footage of the brave but misguided man who tried to put the fire out with a water fire extinguisher - things explode shortly afterwards!

A couple of very brave guys who dragged him away there.

@Forestgreenblue

have to demonstrate that their building has been fire proofed and providing an automatic immediate way to extinguish a lithium battery fire - ceiling mounted foam sprays?

As I recall it (work related very very very basic fire training) foam/CO2 won't stop these things.

Once cells overheat they generate their own supply of oxygen...the only fix is to submerge/immerse (not just spray) the whole battery in lots of water to get the temperature back down...

This might help if you don’t know Glasgow

edit added photo

Probably saved her from injury as it is a lithium fire.

I’ll try to explain why the football matters.

Basically a perfect storm of penalty shootout around the same time the fire broke out. Pitch invasion, then fans streaming towards buses and trains. Roadworks didn’t help.

Trying again with photo

Sorry what? Not iconic or pretty? Seriously?

Who is the comment referring to? The tried in The Hague part

I think just the poster being snide about the guy. Bit unfair I think - it was a bad move but he meantwell.

Now that we are aware of the dangers of these shops, Here's hoping authorities close the other large vape shop directly under the central station platforms. The one on the corner of argyle Street/ hope Street.

And a huge overhaul of how and where these shops can open should be mandatory.

I've always felt weary of how many are popping up all over the place due to my experience with lithium iron batteries and the work I do. They are so dangerous and lithium fires are uncontrollable.

The thought of living in a flat above one of these must be terrifying.

And like a pp has mentioned, there needs to be much tighter regulations on airplanes as one of these lithium ion battery fires on a flight would be utterly catastrophic.

I agree, not a lot of people are aware how lithium ion fires work and need to be controlled. He did nothing wrong.

Let's face it, the fire brigade also used copious amounts of water to attack the fire too.

Awful scenes of the aftermath this morning

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AiXHqAkQ9/

I agree that tighter restrictions are needed for vape storage / sales. We were chatting in the office this morning about how much insurers of these shops will be pushing premiums up / how dangerous it is to live above a vape shop...

Yes I am from Glasgow but the cup match has nothing to do with this. It was a vape shop and they have pinned it down to most likely LED lights. If you want to talk about Ibrox start a thread about it.

Another reason not to get a smart meter as they can run on lithium ion batteries.

The building in Ayr was right next to the tracks. This is nowhere near the train tracks. It is across the road from the main entrance. Even if they close the road for months there are multiple other entrances to central station.

Wow. What you mean is you don't use vape shops so they shouldn't be allowed.

How do you illegally store a vape? They do not contain flammable chemicals. There are no special storage requirements for vapes beyond keeping them at ambient temperatures.

If you are worried about lithium ion batteries then you have far more to worry about in an electrical shop or, a mobile phone store. The batteries in those items are far larger.

@Duckgate I've always felt weary of how many are popping up all over the place due to my experience with lithium iron batteries and the work I do. They are so dangerous and lithium fires are uncontrollable.

Do you feel similarly worried about the number of mobile phone shops or the number of electrical retailers. There will be far more lithium ion batteries and far larger ones in one of those shops than in any vape shop.

This is not across the road from the station, the vape shop is right next to the side entrance to the station, the back wall of the building that was on fire shares a wall with the station. We are so lucky the fire service stopped it from burning down the station.

You do realise that was more to do with charging overnight, which you're never supposed to do with any lithium battery (phones and laptops included) - and not that it was a vape?