The son of a firefighter who died in a warehouse blaze 50 years ago said his dad was killed as the result of the toss of a coin.
Derek Hooper’s father William and six colleagues died while tackling a fire at Glasgow’s Kilbirnie Street on August 25, 1972. The team had gone in to rescue their trapped colleague James Rook when the fire ignited the hardwood ceilings on the first floor,
causing a huge “flashover”killing them all.
Derek, 61, revealed his dad had stepped in to cover a shift at the station before they were called out to the fire at Sher Brothers’ cash and carry store.
The shop fitter, from East Kilbride, said: “My dad worked in the North West fire station in Maryhill but they needed someone in the South fire station that day so he and a colleague flipped a coin for the shift. My dad had won and went over to help them out for that one-off shift, thinking he would get finished earlier.
"It was on that shift they got called out to the warehouse fire and he died. I was 11 when he died and I had been at school on Scotland Street, not far from Kilbirnie Street that day.
“When I got home again after school, no one was in and my mum was always in for us coming home. I jumped on my bike and headed up to the fire. I was told by a few neighbours and friends to go home.
“When I got back, my mum was devastated and a neighbour came out and told me that my dad had been killed in the fire. That day… will never leave me.”
Andrew Quinn, Alistair Crofts, Iain Bermingham, Allan Finlay and Duncan McMillan died with James and William in the blaze.
Today a red plaque will be unveiled at the site of the fire on Kilbirnie Street to commemorate the seven firefighters who lost their lives.
William, 43, left behind his wife Cathie and children Matthew, Elaine, Derek, Raymond and Lorna.
Cathie, who died in 2016, aged 88, continued to support the fire service and was invited to speak with the families of US firefighters at the City Chambers in Glasgow after 9/11.
Matthew joined the fire service in 1975 and dedicated his work in the Fire Brigades Union to ensuring that families in similar circumstances would be cared for financially. He died in a scuba dive accident in 1998.
Derek, who joined the fire service as a mechanic at 16 and is dad to Carrie, 31, and Louise, 24, has very fond memories of his own father.
He said: “In the school holidays he would come off the night shift and bundle us all in the car and we’d go off to Ayr or to the beach for the day. We lived in the firehouse and my dad played piano. There were always firefighters nipping up from the canteen for a sing-song on their break.
"I’m proud to be his son and honoured to be able to call him my dad.”
The plaque is part of a national Red Plaque Scheme run by the FBU and funded through the Firefighters 100 Lottery, to commemorate those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
FBU Scotland’s Seona Hart said: “The plaque will help us all remember the huge sacrifice these firefighters made keeping the public safe.”
Last week a 50th anniversary memorial service was held at Glasgow Cathedral. William’s grandson Derek Roden, a crew commander at Castlemilk Fire Station, laid a firefighter’s helmet on the altar – a replica of the type his grandad wore.
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