FIREFIGHTERS have been praised for potentially saving two thirds of the Glasgow warehouse and produce market following fears that it was "game over" as a major fire caused devastation.
City Property (Glasgow), which owns the Blochairn Fruit Market said they incredibly expected the vast majority of traders to be able to operate in some way by this morning (Friday).
The blaze destroyed stock and gutted two of the six blocks of the market, which does £250 million worth of business every year and supports 400 jobs across 50 businesses.
At the height of the blaze, more than 70 firefighters were involved in tackling the flames at Blochairn Fruit Market which could be seen bursting through the roof in the early hours of Thursday.
Stunned locals reported hearing a "loud bang" before emergency crews rushed to the scene to tackle the inferno.
The blaze began as around 400 workers began their shift selling fruit and vegetables to retailers and restaurants across the west of Scotland. Employees at the market were safely evacuated.
City Property, the arms-length Glasgow City Council company which owns the market, said traders most impacted by the fire are to be temporary housed in the nearby 'west' warehouse and other parts of the site to allow them to continue trading.
Kenny Walker of City Property (Glasgow) said: "The majority of the site, two thirds has not been affected. I think everybody thought when they saw the pictures coming through that it was game over. "It is down to the reaction of the emergency services this morning definitely and the contingency plan that the markets here have in place for dealing with such things. "And it's a blessing that nobody was injured or hurt.
"The response of the emergency services cannot be underestimated."
Sales and deliveries of fruit, vegetables, fish and flowers to businesses across the country were immediately impacted.
Sarah Gulland, a shop assistant at Roots, Fruit and Flowers grocer in Finnieston, said traders may have to go south of the Border for produce.
"We get a fresh delivery every morning but we've not got one today and we're really struggling," she said.
"Today we've managed to just get by. We get all of our fruit and vegetables from the market every day. We try to keep our stock low so our produce is fresh.
"It's the main market for the whole of Scotland so our only other option is to go down to Gateshead."
The British Hospitality Association predicted that the blaze would affect local restaurants, flower shops and cafes which rely on daily deliveries from Blochairn.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said it believes a "good proportion" of the two-storey building had been maintained and traders could be allowed to return to the market on Thursday evening.
By 5pm on Thursday most of two blocks of the market and the fish market were given clearance to open as normal. Mr Walker said on Thursday: "We are hopeful of trading tonight. I would say two thirds will be operational by midnight.
"We envisage it will be as close to business as usual as is possible for the traders, obviously there are people who are affected who cannot get into their units. Fire services are still here damping down at the back of the site, and they will be here at least for the rest of the day and into tomorrow morning."
Maureen Brogan, from traders J&P Brogan, said her units survived the fire but all traders will now need to "try and help each other".
She said: "Thank God no-one has been injured, that is number one.
"We are actually one of the lucky ones, our units have not been touched. There are people who literally have nothing left and there will be people wondering if they have a job left.
"I genuinely feel for the other traders who have woken up to nothing."
Ms Brogan said evacuating the site hit her deliveries for the day, but added: "That's not going to be a huge problem, we will survive and nobody has died or been injured."
Economy Secretary Keith Brown said: “The Blochairn Fruit Market is a Glasgow institution and plays an important role supplying fresh local produce to businesses across the country, so it has been sad to see the damaging impact of this fire.
“It is a relief to see no injuries have been reported and I would like to thank the emergency services for their quick response and hard work in effectively dealing with what was a major fire.
“However, we recognise it is a hugely worrying time for traders and businesses and our officials have been in contact with Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Markets and Scottish Enterprise who have confirmed that urgent steps are being taken to minimise any disruption to trading.”
Deputy Assistant Chief Officer John Joyce of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: "What I can tell you is that we've saved a very good proportion of it.
"In fact the site operator are pretty happy with the parts that we have saved because that is the main operational part of the building.
"It's a real shame for those businesses which have been badly affected, but we're working with the businesses and the city council to get the functioning part open as soon as possible."
A specialist fire investigation team is to attempt to establish the cause of the fire in the coming days.
"There is no doubt that this has been an extremely challenging incident, however the response and professionalism from our firefighters has been outstanding," he added.
"The fire developed rapidly - however thanks to our quick assessment and action plans that were put into place, we were able to protect not only the community from harm, but ensure that the fire did not spread further in the market."
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