Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Hostel evacuated from neighbouring blaze

May 05 2010
Fifty-eight hostel residents evacuated because of nightclub fire

Fifty-eight residents of a Glasgow homeless hostel were evacuated to safety during a huge fire in a neighbouring disused nightclub. The blaze broke out at the former Sapphire Club on Glasgow's Paisley Road at around 10.45 pm on Friday 10 April. Eyewitnesses reported seeing flames coming from the second floor as the fire quickly engulfed the four-storey building. Part of the building had to be demolished for public safety causing the evacuation, and road closures and the fire service confirmed that the derelict tenement building will be pulled down in an operation led by Glasgow City Council's building control department.

The Talbot Association hostel on Paisley road, a direct access hostel accommodating almost sixty residents, was evacuated and had to be closed down for four nights before it was safe for residents to return. Anne O'Neil, duty manager on the night of the fire, described how the 'horrendous and massive' fire broke out late at night when the hostel was almost full. She expressed her gratitude to the fire service and to the City Council for helping rehouse the fifty eight residents and provide basic essentials for them.

Within hours of the hostel reopening it was already filling up, with 45 people taking residence on the first night, demonstrating the high demand for hostel accommodation in the city.

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