Fireman Hynd was injured in Kilmarnock and died on the 29th August 1952.
Fireman injured in Chimney Fall
Part time fireman Thomas Hynd, 17 Gilmour Street, Kilmarnock, is in Kilmarnock Infirmary with a broken leg and possible injuries to his spine as a result of falling from a chimney head on Monday evening.
Mr Hynd was one of a detachment of the Kilmarnock Brigade called to a chimney fire at 175 Titchfield Street, Kilmarnock, round about 9pm, on Monday.
He was pouring water down the chimney when he collapsed, possibly overcome by fumes, fell ten feet onto the roof. He was seen to roll down the roof but was prevented from falling to the ground by a ledge.
When his mates got him down to the ground, it was found he was unconscious. He was removed to Kilmarnock Infirmary.
Mr Hynd is employed full time as a slater with a local firm.
(Kilmarnock Herald and Ayrshire Gazette, Friday, August 22, 1952. Page 1.)
Killed Fighting Chimney Fire
A formal verdict was returned at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on Monday following an inquiry into the death of a retained fireman, Thomas Hynd, 17 Gilmour Street, Kilmarnock.
The jury found that Mr Hynd was so severely injured in a fall from a chimney at 179 Titchfield Street, Kilmarnock, on Tuesday, 19th August, that he died in Kilmarnock Infirmary on 29th August from a fracture of the spine.
William Hopkins, lorry driver, 22 Richardland Road, Kilmarnock, told the court he was a retained fireman. On 19th August he was in charge of a squad of three, including himself and fireman Hynd, detailed to attend a chimney fire at 179 Titchfield Street on 19th August. Hynd had gone onto the roof with a hose to deal with the fire and later, he (Hopkins) had been told by a policeman that Hynd had fallen off the roof. He went to the control room at the Fire Station to get an ambulance for Hynd and then returned to the fire to help Hynd. Hynd was taken to the Infirmary and his colleagues remained to put out the fire.
On Way Home
Another retained fireman, Malcolm McGregor Campbell, 2 Lawson Street, Kilmarnock, said that along with another fireman he was on his way home on the evening of 19th August when he saw the tender outside 179 Titchfield Street. He saw fireman Hynd on top of the chimney stack.
Questioned by the Fiscal, Mr. D. Macmillan, Campbell said the smoke from the chimney was blowing in Hynd’s direction. He saw him raise his hand and pass it over his face and half a minute later he dropped right back off the chimney head onto the ridge of the roof, sliding down the back out of view.
Campbell said he climbed onto the roof and found that two policemen and another fireman, Fireman McCutcheon, were already there and had secured a rope to Hynd whose legs appeared to be doubled under him. Hynd was pulled up the roof over the ridge and onto a flat roof adjacent. Ambulance men came onto the roof and carried Hynd down to the ground to take him to the Infirmary.
“Fireman’s Down”
Police Constable Wm. Bryden McTaggart, of Kilmarnock Burgh Police, said he had been on duty in Titchfield Street at the time of the fire. On hearing a shout, “the fireman’s down,” he climbed onto the roof and found Hynd lying in the gutter at the edge of the slope. A rope was secured round Hynd and the injured man was pulled over the ridge onto the nearby flat roof.
Peter McKay, deputy firemaster, told the court that many toxic gases were given off when a chimney went on fire. The main one was carbon monoxide and if a man absorbed a lot of this gas it was possible he would become unconscious.
Fireman Hynd was a slater, he said, and a thoroughly experienced man on roofs.
Detective Constable John McLennan, of Kilmarnock Burgh Police, said a report of the accident had been received at the Police Office at 9.30p.m. He went to 179 Titchfield Street, climbed onto the roof and examined the chimney stack. “I found it was in good condition,” he said. “There was no sign of crumbling.”
In his summing up, Sheriff G. Cormack Cohen said it would probably never be known what caused Hynd to fall. It was a clear case which called for a formal verdict.
(Kilmarnock Herald and Ayrshire Gazette, Friday, October 31, 1952. Page 3.)