Divisional Officer John J Buist died in a Jute Warehouse fire on Friday, April the 13th 1962
FIRE OFFICER DIES IN DUNDEE BLAZE
Two saved; heroic rescue struggle
FAMILIES WARNED OUT IN EARLY MORNING
<PHOTO> Firemen shore up burning bales in an effort to reach the trapped man.
<PHOTO> D.O. Buist is carried from the warehouse.
Divisional Fire Officer John J. Buist lost his life in a warehouse blaze at the
works of W. G. Grant & Co., 31 Constitution Street, Dundee.
His body was recovered early this morning after a desperate 2½ hour rescue
effort by his colleagues.
Two other firemen, William Joiner and Harry Anderson, who had been trapped by
falling bales, were rescued.
Owing to the dangerous state of a gable, eight families were evacuated from
attics in tenements at Lawson Place about 1 a.m.
Mostly elderly people, they were given accommodation by neighbours.
When the alarm was raised the warehouse, which contained 2000 bales of jute, was
well alight.
The firefighters and rescue parties were handicapped by acrid fumes, stifling
heat and water pouring from the roof sprinklers.
Shortly after 11 p.m. a cry from the smoke filled warehouse announced something
unexpected had happened. It was accompanied by a flash and a thud.
Firemen were immediately summoned from the roof and other parts of the area by
Deputy Firemaster Jones.
Way barred
They plunged into the smoke with torches. But
they did not get far.
Barring passageway was a pile of jute bales; many of them burst open.
It was this fall of end bales from a massive 35 foot high tier that had cut off
the three firemen. Hoses were hauled into action and torches stabbed the
darkness.
The fall of jute was near the middle of the warehouse.
It cut off Firemen William Joiner and Harry Anderson from the entrance at the
west end of the building.
A struggle
A second rescue party hacked frenziedly at
the corrugated iron eastern gable which faces the rear of the tenements in
Lawson Place.
By tremendous efforts they managed to wrench one of the iron sections
sufficiently far apart from its neighbour to put their heads into the warehouse.
They heard somebody shouting, and called that help was on the way.
Joiner and Anderson made their way to the hole in the wall, but it wasn’t big
enough to allow them to escape until they had removed their breathing apparatus.
Thank God you’ve got us,” was their first comment
“Done in”
Both were pretty “done in” after their ordeal
in the heat and smoke, but appeared to have escaped physical injury.
They were given cups of tea by Mrs Gall, 26 Lawson Place, before stepping into
the ambulance on their way for a check- up at the infirmary,
The two rescued men brought the news that a colleague was trapped under two tons
of jute.
Firemen working at the front of the fall from the works end redoubled their
efforts. Willing employees of W. G. Grant had almost to be forcibly restrained
from helping.
Doctor helps
A searchlight was rigged up. Dr Courtenay
Wade, 12 Constitution Terrace, who had hurried from his bath to offer
assistance, paused only to don a fireman’s helmet before joining the rescue
party, carrying a satchel of medical equipment.
He emerged drenched by the sprinklers.
Every minute the great tiers of jute bales glowing red and orange at a dozen
places threatened to burst open and crush the firemen.
Like a stream
“Bring battens,” was the cry. Works employees
ran to fetch long battens of wood, and pushed them into the warehouse, the floor
of which was running like a stream.
With grim heroism the firemen levered them against the blazing tier, their faces
glistening with sweat and water
With smoke stinging their eyes, they sawed up shorter lengths and used them as
cross beams to shore up the pile against another stack of jute across the
passageway. It was not alight
Other men tore at the fallen pile of jute 10 feet away from the trapped man
Barrowload after barrowload was wheeled out of the way— every bale swollen to
twice its 400 lb weight by the water it had absorbed. Every minute battens had
to be adjusted.
Angry glow
At the heart of the tiers the red glow became
angrier and angrier. A hose swept along it, but hardly had the firemen changed
their target than the glow began building up again.
It was a nightmare battle with every man in danger. Occasionally someone would
come out for some piece of equipment.
Hardly one paused for a mouthful of the tea which Grant’s provided.
Rescuers reached Divisional Officer Buist at 1-40 a.m.
His blanket covered body was carried out of the warehouse to an ambulance by the
Deputy Firemaster and colleagues.
Mr Buist was one of the best-known members of Angus Fire Service. A native of
Fife, he was a motor engineer before joining the fire service.
He lived with his wife, a former firewoman, and young son at the Northern Fire
Station He was 53 and had had 30 years’ service.
Fireman Anderson lives at 49 St Giles Terrace, St Mary’s, and Fireman Joiner at
12 Playfair Terrace.
Fears of spread to mill
When the fire was at its height there were fears that it was going to involve
the mill, which is separated from the corrugated iron and timber warehouse by a
mutual stone wall.
Since shortly after the alarm was given about 10 p.m. the nightshift in the mill
had put off the machinery to work in shifts in dealing with the water pouring
through from the higher level warehouse.
Later there was a breakthrough of the fire at the roof junction and more water
from the sprinklers cascaded down on nearby machinery.
Five fire appliances from the Central and Northern Fire Stations attended and 12
lines of hose were in use. Traffic using Constitution Street was diverted for
some time.
They spotted it.
The brigade was called after the fire had
been spotted al most simultaneously from several points.
Mrs Christina Campbell, 28 Lawson Place, saw flames
shooting through the roof as she returned home.
Mr William Milne, an employee of Messrs Grant, who lives in the same tenement
heard the sprinkler alarm going off.
Miss Jan Dryburgh, secretary with the firm, also saw the roof flames from her
home.
(The Courier and Advertiser, Friday April 13, 1962. Page 9)
Death
BUIST: As the result of an accident, on April 13, 1962, John J Buist, divisional
fire officer, beloved husband of Williamina, Lyall,
296 Strathmore Avenue, Dundee.
Service in Wallacetown Parish Church, Crescent Street, on Monday at 2-15,
thereafter to Dundee Crematorium, arriving 2-55. Friends wishing to attend
please notify James Smeaton & Sons Ltd., 24 Victoria Street. (phone 81320).
(The Courier and Advertiser, Saturday April 14, 1962. Page 14)
Hundreds pay last respects to
Fire Officer John Buist
<PHOTO> Firemen march with the cortege as it approaches the Crematorium.
The spontaneous turnout of hundreds of Dundonians to pay a final tribute to a
man who had served them for 15 years was the most touching feature about the
funeral of Divisional Fire Officer John Buist yesterday.
Fifty one year old Mr Buist died in Thursday night’s jute warehouse blaze at W.
G. Grant & Co.’s Constitution Street works.
The members of the public left their homes, work benches and counters to await
the emergence of the coffin following a 15 minute service in Wallacetown Church.
Many went inside to pay their personal respects.
When the four pallbearers came out, there were about 500 people, mainly women,
thronging the Victorian Street – Crescent Street junction.
On the route to the Crematorium police pointsmen controlled every junction to
ensure no hold ups for the 50 car cortege.
Knots of pedestrians were also grouped along the two mile route, which led up
Strathmore Avenue past the Northern Fire Station, where Mr Buist lived.
Drawn up in the station forecourt were three machines and two crews. Minutes
before, a fire call had sent the third crew speeding to Fairmuir goods yard,
where oil was alight beneath a railway wagon.
A reserve machine had just filled the gap when the cortege came into sight.
The parading firemen were in full dress uniform, and the sub officer in charge
stood at the salute.
Over 150 firemen – also in full dress and uniform – from all over Scotland lined
Macalpine Road, from Kingsway Circle. The guard of honour fell in on both sides
of the hearse, slow – marching the last 100 yards to the Crematorium.
Overflow
About 500 people packed into the building,
spilling out into the vestibule so that the doors cold not be closed. It was the
biggest attendance at a Crematorium funeral for many years.
Nearly 200 mourners in Wallacetown Church heard the Rev. W. Uist Macdonald (who.
also conducted the Crematorium service) say of Divisional Officer Buist, “John
Jarnieson Buist lost his life in the early hours of the morning of Friday, April
13, responding to the call of duty, using his abilities and experience for
others, striving to serve and to help at his post. The end came unexpectedly and
suddenly.
“What a shock; what a loss. Gone from our earthly fellowship is a man of strong
character, of great courage and determination, a man with a keen sense of duty.
“He was a man many were proud to know and glad to have as a friend.
“This afternoon we mourn his passing. But we don’t just mourn. We remember him
with proud thanksgiving. We shall not forget”
F1oral tributes
The pallbearers — Station Officer John
Lamont, Sub Officer Alexander Baxter, Leading Fireman Walter Lochhead, and
Fireman Charles Robertson — carried the coffin from the church, past the two
dozen floral tributes laid out in the vestibule.
They were preceded by Deputy Firemaster Albert Jones, bearing the helmet and axe
belonging to Mr Buist, who was third in command of the Angus Area Fire Brigade.
The mourners
Among the mourners were— H.M Inspector of
Fire Brigades for Scotland, Mr A. D. Wilson; the Commandant of the Scottish Fire
Services Training School at Gullane, Mr David Palmer; Firemaster John Jackson,
Dundee; Firemaster Alex. Masson, Perth; Firemaster Frank Rushbrook, Edinburgh;
Firemaster William Woods, Aberdeen; Assistant Firemaster A. Simpson, Fife;
Assistant Firemaster P. S Morrison, South Western Area; Divisional Officer, J.
I. Chisholm, Inverness; Divisional Officer J Ferrie, Western Area; Station
Officer J. Mathieson, Glasgow;
Lord Provost Maurice McManus and the Lady Provost; Bailie Mrs Agnes Holway;
Bailie A. L. Benson; Councillor G. R Beattie; Councillor G. M. Soutar; Mr Robert
Lyle, town clerk; Deputy Chief Constable Robert Cook; Superintendent Thomas
Clark; Chief Inspector Stanley Smith;
Mr John Gorman, civil defence officer; Mr Eric Larg civil defence controller; Mr
T. D. Bruce, Mr William Bruce and Mr Robert Bruce, all directors of W. G. Grant
& Co., Ltd.
Mr W. S. Wilson, Forfar, chairman of the Angus Fire Area Joint Committee, was
unable to attend because of a sudden family bereavement yesterday.
Mr W. B. Muir, chief fire officer for Northumberland, who served with Mr Buist
in Dunfermline Fire Brigade before the war, came north for the funeral.
They were rescued
Fireman Harry Anderson and William Joiner,
who were rescued after being trapped in the blazing warehouse for 20 minutes by
the fall which crushed Mr Buist, also attended the Crematorium service.
Floral tributes included wreaths from officers and men of Angus Area Fire
Brigade; Retained Personnel of the Angus Area Fire Brigade; Fire Brigade
Headquarters Staff; Auxiliary Fire Service Detachment; National Association of
Fire Officers; Fire Brigade Union; officers and men of Perth and Kinross Fire
Brigade; officers and men of the South Eastern Fire Brigade; officers and men of
the Fife Fire Brigade; former Dundee Deputy Firemaster James Gilchrist and his
wife; Dundee Corporation; Dundee City Police; Second Fife (Dunfermline Y.M.C.A.);
Boy Scout Group; and the workers of W. G. Grant.
A flag flew at half mast at Grant’s Constitution Street works.
Two relief crews from Perth Fire Brigade were sent to Dundee to allow as many
local men as possible to attend the funeral.
(The Courier & Advertiser, Tuesday 17 April, 1962. Page 4)