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Cumnock homes evacuated after fire at J Yates and Sons - were you affected?

9 March
Around 70 local residents had to be evacuated from their homes to the Lochside Hotel early on Sunday morning as a transport and storage depot at Craigens Road, containing explosive gas cylinders, went up in flames.

Strathclyde Fire and Rescue said 60 firefighters manning 10 appliances tackled the blaze at J Yates and Sons.

Fire crews established a 200 metre exclusion zone as police evacuated surrounding residential properties. A spokeswoman for the fire service said cylinders of acetylene were on the premises. No-one had been injured in the fire.

Strathclyde Fire & Rescue's Incident Research and Investigation Section will carry out a detailed investigation to determine what may have started the fire. According to the Chronicle, there are no early indications of the cause.

Were you affected by the fire and the evacuation? You can share your stories and photos here on s1cumnock.

29 June | 12:37:04

Tommy Samson says

It's never a good thing to be woken out of a sleep at 2.30 in the morning. But that's what happened in the early hours of Sunday 8th March. As I headed downstairs to see who was hammering on the front door, I could hear weird popping noises. Being still half asleep, I thought it was hail stones hitting the window. I opened the door to see my neighbour standing there saying something that I wasn't taking in. My mind was looking for hail stones. It was also thinking that hail isn't orange in colour. That's when I fully woke and realised what my neighbour was saying. A large fire had started in the haulage yard next my house. The popping noises were coming form the burning roof, which at this time was well lit. My neighbour was actually saying it would be best to move our cars because the sparks and burning embers were blowing over in our direction. I raced back upstairs and woke my wife, put on clothes and then went and moved her car first as it was nearest the burning building. I then got in my car and headed out of our street to see what was happening. My concern was that there was no fire brigade there yet. I was almost right. As I reached the end of my street and looked left towards the opening of the yard, I could see that the first fire engine was just arriving along with two police cars. One of the police cars stopped in front of me. I was instructed to go back to where I had come from and prepare to evacuate in case the wind changed direction. My biggest concern at this point was not for what was already on fire and sending burning embers all over the houses further up my street. It was for the building adjoining the burning one. The building 25 metres from my house. The building storing aerosol cans. Thousands of them. We all know what happens to an aerosol can when it gets hot. Ten to fifteen minutes had passed from when I had been woken. I was back in my house. I had told my wife what the police had told me. She had taken things pretty calmly but like me, was concerned if the fire spread to the next door building. Which it was doing. Our son was still in bed, we didn't want to wake him until we needed to. I went back outside to speak to the neighbours, who were all out of bed by now and we all had the same concerns. Mrs Mair, who's husband had woke me, was escorting Mrs Nelson in to her house. Mrs Nelson lives opposite us, her house is closer to what was on fire. She's also 93 years old. We were all in agreeable that we really shouldn't be there. The fire was spreading quickly towards the aerosol building. There was no fire brigade in our street and the smoke was thick and acrid. I went back inside and went upstairs to have a look out the front window to see what was happening. I didn't like what I seen. The roof of the aerosol building was smoking heavily. All of a sudden, the smoke disappeared inside the roof and then woosh..... a large ball of flame went skywards. Oh hell! My wife got our son up. I ran downstairs to the kitchen to look out the window there. Couldn't see much for smoke. By the time I had entered the living room, I could see a fire fighter coming in our path. Yup, it was time to go. We were told to get only what we needed and get out quickly. I grabbed coats and the travel blanket. My son was wrapped in the blanket and my wife took him out to the assembly point across the street. I got the dog and cat and left the house too, locking the door behind me. The cat scampered at the sound of another explosion. I got the family into my car. The police and fire brigade were panicking like hell at this point. The residents were not. No-one could tell us where we were going, so I took the decision to go to the in-laws in New Cumnock. I also took Mrs Nelson to her daughters house which was near-by. The time, 3am. What had felt like hours had actually only been half an hour. We didn't get any sleep at the in-laws. I lay in bed but my mind was racing with concerns for our house. Around 6am, My wife went back to Cumnock to see what was happening. She couldn't get anywhere near our steer, let alone the house. A 200 metre exclusion zone had been set up. As the day passed, information was pretty much non-existent. I had taken several trips down to see what was happening, only to be sent away. I did manage to get a view of the house but not close enough to see if there was any damage. All I could see was a very blackened looking side of the house. It didn't look good at that point. It actually took a text message to a friend in the police to find out what was happening. Not expecting him to actually be in Cumnock, he informed me that he'd just arrived for duty at the incident and could tell us that we wouldn't be getting home that night. This was because of unstable acetylene tanks within one of the burning buildings. These were also the reason for the 200 metre exclusion zone. He texted me later that night to tell me that there was a big fire engine sitting outside our house spraying water onto the warehouse next door. He couldn't tell if there was any damage to the house though as it was dark and he wasn't being allowed any closer than to where he shouldn't have been anyway. Another sleepless night followed. The next morning my wife and I decided we were going to see our house somehow. Once again the information from the police station was useless. This time we managed to get closer to home for a look. I also got some pictures. The house didn't look as bad as it did the day before but it was still hard to tell if there was any damage or not. We decided to go into the street (Buntens Close) where a friend lives. It's on the estate behind our house. They had also been evacuated because of their proximity to the fire. The street was still blocked off but there was no police or fire brigade around. Someone had just gone in the street in front of us so we followed. There is a pathway that leads from Buntens Close to the nearby primary school. It also runs directly behind our house. One other concern, besides the state of the house, was that our cat had gotten away the night of the fire and was now missing. Not for long though. She'd taken shelter somewhere and was safe and sound. From the pathway, the house looked ok. After a short blether with some friends about what had happened and where we'd all went after being evacuated, we headed home. Our street resembled something out of a war zone. There was debris everywhere. Aerosol cans and bits of burnt roofing littered every garden, path and road all the way up the street. Our house looked ok from the front too. The row of trees at the edge of our car park were all burnt. There were still some hoses dowsing down the smouldering building and all the hydrants were open. First thing we noticed after getting out the car was the cracked windscreen in my wifes car. Obviously some flying debris had hit that. I then noticed that the upstairs window on our next door neighbours house was cracked. Then I noticed that our upstairs window was also cracked, as was our front hall window. My immediate thought was that if we've got cracked front windows, what's the side windows like. Remarkably they were ok. Smoke damage was minimal on the side of the house too. We're still not sure if overnight rain or hose water had cleaned what I saw the day before off. Inside the house was ok. Not one hint of a smell of smoke other than in the downstairs toilet and that was minimal. In the days that followed, the accounts of some of our neighbours and those from friends made us thankful that had a house to go back to at all. Our friends in Buntens Close were evacuated a good half hour after us. They watched from their house as a large fire ball engulfed our house. They were convinced the house was a gonner. We were later informed that the fire brigade had a ground monitor, a hose jet that sprays a wall of water, aimed at our house. The damage to our house was nothing compared to Mrs Nelson's house though. It took the most damage. All her rear windows were broken. Her guttering had all melted. Her back door was melted and warped. Her small garden tool shed had totally vanished and part of her fencing burned away. The main thing though is that not one single person was hurt.

29 June | 12:38:28

Tommy Samson says

It's never a good thing to be woken out of a sleep at 2.30 in the morning. But that's what happened in the early hours of Sunday 8th March. As I headed downstairs to see who was hammering on the front door, I could hear weird popping noises. Being still half asleep, I thought it was hail stones hitting the window. I opened the door to see my neighbour standing there saying something that I wasn't taking in. My mind was looking for hail stones. It was also thinking that hail isn't orange in colour. That's when I fully woke and realised what my neighbour was saying.

A large fire had started in the haulage yard next my house. The popping noises were coming form the burning roof, which at this time was well lit. My neighbour was actually saying it would be best to move our cars because the sparks and burning embers were blowing over in our direction. I raced back upstairs and woke my wife, put on clothes and then went and moved her car first as it was nearest the burning building. I then got in my car and headed out of our street to see what was happening. My concern was that there was no fire brigade there yet. I was almost right. As I reached the end of my street and looked left towards the opening of the yard, I could see that the first fire engine was just arriving along with two police cars. One of the police cars stopped in front of me. I was instructed to go back to where I had come from and prepare to evacuate in case the wind changed direction.

My biggest concern at this point was not for what was already on fire and sending burning embers all over the houses further up my street. It was for the building adjoining the burning one. The building 25 metres from my house. The building storing aerosol cans. Thousands of them. We all know what happens to an aerosol can when it gets hot.

Ten to fifteen minutes had passed from when I had been woken. I was back in my house. I had told my wife what the police had told me. She had taken things pretty calmly but like me, was concerned if the fire spread to the next door building. Which it was doing. Our son was still in bed, we didn't want to wake him until we needed to.

I went back outside to speak to the neighbours, who were all out of bed by now and we all had the same concerns. Mrs Mair, who's husband had woke me, was escorting Mrs Nelson in to her house. Mrs Nelson lives opposite us, her house is closer to what was on fire. She's also 93 years old. We were all in agreeable that we really shouldn't be there. The fire was spreading quickly towards the aerosol building. There was no fire brigade in our street and the smoke was thick and acrid.

I went back inside and went upstairs to have a look out the front window to see what was happening. I didn't like what I seen. The roof of the aerosol building was smoking heavily. All of a sudden, the smoke disappeared inside the roof and then woosh..... a large ball of flame went skywards.

Oh hell!

My wife got our son up. I ran downstairs to the kitchen to look out the window there. Couldn't see much for smoke. By the time I had entered the living room, I could see a fire fighter coming in our path. Yup, it was time to go.

We were told to get only what we needed and get out quickly. I grabbed coats and the travel blanket. My son was wrapped in the blanket and my wife took him out to the assembly point across the street. I got the dog and cat and left the house too, locking the door behind me. The cat scampered at the sound of another explosion. I got the family into my car. The police and fire brigade were panicking like hell at this point. The residents were not. No-one could tell us where we were going, so I took the decision to go to the in-laws in New Cumnock. I also took Mrs Nelson to her daughters house which was near-by. The time, 3am. What had felt like hours had actually only been half an hour.

We didn't get any sleep at the in-laws. I lay in bed but my mind was racing with concerns for our house. Around 6am, My wife went back to Cumnock to see what was happening. She couldn't get anywhere near our steer, let alone the house. A 200 metre exclusion zone had been set up.

As the day passed, information was pretty much non-existent. I had taken several trips down to see what was happening, only to be sent away. I did manage to get a view of the house but not close enough to see if there was any damage. All I could see was a very blackened looking side of the house. It didn't look good at that point.

It actually took a text message to a friend in the police to find out what was happening. Not expecting him to actually be in Cumnock, he informed me that he'd just arrived for duty at the incident and could tell us that we wouldn't be getting home that night. This was because of unstable acetylene tanks within one of the burning buildings. These were also the reason for the 200 metre exclusion zone.

He texted me later that night to tell me that there was a big fire engine sitting outside our house spraying water onto the warehouse next door. He couldn't tell if there was any damage to the house though as it was dark and he wasn't being allowed any closer than to where he shouldn't have been anyway.

Another sleepless night followed. The next morning my wife and I decided we were going to see our house somehow. Once again the information from the police station was useless. This time we managed to get closer to home for a look. I also got some pictures. The house didn't look as bad as it did the day before but it was still hard to tell if there was any damage or not.

We decided to go into the street (Buntens Close) where a friend lives. It's on the estate behind our house. They had also been evacuated because of their proximity to the fire. The street was still blocked off but there was no police or fire brigade around. Someone had just gone in the street in front of us so we followed. There is a pathway that leads from Buntens Close to the nearby primary school. It also runs directly behind our house.

One other concern, besides the state of the house, was that our cat had gotten away the night of the fire and was now missing. Not for long though. She'd taken shelter somewhere and was safe and sound. From the pathway, the house looked ok.

After a short blether with some friends about what had happened and where we'd all went after being evacuated, we headed home. Our street resembled something out of a war zone. There was debris everywhere. Aerosol cans and bits of burnt roofing littered every garden, path and road all the way up the street. Our house looked ok from the front too. The row of trees at the edge of our car park were all burnt. There were still some hoses dowsing down the smouldering building and all the hydrants were open.

First thing we noticed after getting out the car was the cracked windscreen in my wifes car. Obviously some flying debris had hit that. I then noticed that the upstairs window on our next door neighbours house was cracked. Then I noticed that our upstairs window was also cracked, as was our front hall window. My immediate thought was that if we've got cracked front windows, what's the side windows like. Remarkably they were ok. Smoke damage was minimal on the side of the house too. We're still not sure if overnight rain or hose water had cleaned what I saw the day before off.

Inside the house was ok. Not one hint of a smell of smoke other than in the downstairs toilet and that was minimal.

In the days that followed, the accounts of some of our neighbours and those from friends made us thankful that had a house to go back to at all.

Our friends in Buntens Close were evacuated a good half hour after us. They watched from their house as a large fire ball engulfed our house. They were convinced the house was a gonner. We were later informed that the fire brigade had a ground monitor, a hose jet that sprays a wall of water, aimed at our house.

The damage to our house was nothing compared to Mrs Nelson's house though. It took the most damage. All her rear windows were broken. Her guttering had all melted. Her back door was melted and warped. Her small garden tool shed had totally vanished and part of her fencing burned away.

The main thing though is that not one single person was hurt.

See photos of the fire in the Buildings Gallery.

17 April | 2:11:25

Jenna Croasdale says

I was in my bed and my Dad shouted to my bed room and said what is that nosie so came thu and he opend my curtains and i was like ohhh myyy gggoooodddd.Iwas even shaking and so was my teeth then the door bell rang and my mum got it and it was the police and my mum said what is the mater and the guy said im sorry but u need to get out of youre house beforw u get hurt go round to the fifeee wing so wee went round and they said there it iss to nearto here if u dont have eny whare to go to loch side house hotel so we went up and we had to stay for one night but we all thought wee had to stay for neary an other night but we couold not stay that night because there because there was a wedding that day but we got in the house.Every one was luky that they were hurt

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