Homes evacuated after Glasgow tenement collapse
The building has been lying derelict for about five years after it was gutted by a fire during lockdown. Urie, who lives locally, described how he was returning home from a party moments before it fell down."I started hearing weird noises and at first I thought there were people in there smashing things up," he told BBC Scotland News. "I thought it was a weird time of night to be demolishing something."It became apparent that something awful was about to happen so I got across the street and turned round and saw the whole façade of the building collapse."
Mobile phone footage recorded by Urie shows dust clouds drifting down the street after the Kenmure Street side crumbled and the walls on Albert Drive were left "hanging by a thread". Urie, who played "Big Bob" O'Hara in River City, described how instinctively he ran for his life. "I realised I hadn't run since I was eight so it felt like a rather overweight 56-year-old Indiana Jones running away from a collapsing building."I was quite frightened, but it was also a shame because it was such a gorgeous old tenement."
The tenement block was one of two buildings badly damaged by fire within months of each other on the same crossroads several years ago. Urie said the burnt-out shell was fenced off and there was no access to the pavement but there had been local concern about its safety for some time. "We've all been really worried because it looks unsafe and it has been sitting there for such a long time without anybody doing anything," he said. A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: "A number of nearby residences were evacuated as firefighters worked to make the building safe". The last firefighters left the scene at about 03:00. The area was fenced off on Saturday morning while officials inspected the site.
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