Glasgow fireplace eyewitness who tried to cease vape store inferno reveals devastating blaze broke out from ‘financial institution of chargers beneath counter’
A passerby who bravely attempted to stop a blaze that erupted in a vape shop in Glasgow, revealed that the devastating fire was caused by a ‘bank of chargers under the counter’.
Lamin Kongira was walking along Union Street on Sunday afternoon when he saw smoke coming from the vape shop and a person running out of the door.
However his heroic effort to stop the spread of the blaze was curtailed by two explosions.
He revealed that he entered the store and discovered the fire was coming from a bank of chargers behind the counter.
The inferno went on to cause the partial collapse of the historic four-storey commercial building and closed neighbouring Glasgow Central Station.
An MSP compared the damage to the devastation of ‘the Blitz’ while business owners said they had ‘lost everything’ in the fire.
The 42-year-old chef searched for a fire extinguisher in the shop but could not find one and had to run into Subway.
He returned with a fire extinguisher but said the blaze was too intense, and Mr Kongira said he had to retreat outside after hearing loud bangs.
Lamin Kongira was walking along Union Street in Glasgow on Sunday afternoon when he saw smoke coming from the vape shop
A fire at a vape shop on Union Street in Glasgow has left a Victorian building nothing but a pile of rubble
The inferno raged last night and has led to the closure today of the neighbouring Glasgow Central Station, causing travel chaos for commuters
Mr Kongira said he asked someone in the vape shop if there was a fire extinguisher, but one was not available.
He said: ‘I had to run out quickly to go next door, where there’s a Subway. That’s where I grabbed this firefighting thing.
‘But unfortunately, that finished and it could not stop it. The explosion comes.
‘When the first explosion comes that’s when I knew I couldn’t control it anymore.’
After the explosion, which may have come from a vape, he said he went outside to secure the street.
Another ‘big explosion’, which was apparently more powerful, happened before the fire brigade arrived, he said.
Mr Kongira said he suffered headaches from smoke inhalation as a result of the blast.
The chef, who has lived in Glasgow for 15 years, said he wanted to act as he often uses Central Station and it is ‘monumental’ to him.
He said: ‘A structure like that contributed to my living in Glasgow.’
The owner of the vape shop that sparked a huge fire in Glasgow has said he is ‘in grief’ after the blaze ‘wiped out’ businesses.
Arslan Ali told the Daily Mail ‘it shouldn’t have happened’ and that he is ‘standing with all’ after the blaze left a Victorian block nothing but a pile of rubble.
He added that ‘it is hurtful’ and ‘disappointing’, but declined to comment any further as he was ‘not in a position to talk’.
People standing watching at the edge of the police cordon on Monday spoke of their shock.
Emma Reid, from Glasgow, said: ‘It’s just so sad. It’s such an iconic building. It’s so sad.’
Carolyn Bowie stopped to watch as her son was one of the firefighters tackling the blaze on Monday morning, having started his shift at 8am.
She said: ‘It’s devastating and a big blow for Glasgow.’
Neighbouring businesses have told how they fled the burning building block, while the owner of a tattoo parlour says he has ‘lost everything’.
The Victorian building, designed by architect James Brown of the firm Brown & Carrick, was built in 1851 and pre-dated the station.
The Money Shop and Wimpy once operated out of the same unit which caught on fire before it was a vape shop.
According to title deeds obtained by the Daily Mail, the building is part of several neighbouring outlets owned by property firm Afton Estates Limited, which paid £540,000 for the block in 2008.
A drone image shows firefighters spraying jets of water over the smoldering building in the Scottish city
Flames spread through the building on Sunday in scenes that one MSP likened to the ‘Blitz’
A planning application lodged with Glasgow City Council in September 2024 to convert the unit into a hot-food takeaway was rejected last December.
Companies House documents show Michael and Kenna Tasker are listed as directors of Afton Estates.
Mr Tasker is also listed as a director of the Royal Forth Yacht Club, one of the world’s oldest yacht clubs whose patron is Princess Anne.
He was commodore when the club organised a Parade of Sail to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The Daily Mail has attempted to contact the Taskers and Afton Estates Limited for comment.
Owner of Lucky in Love Tattoos, Scott Martin McAnally, told the Daily Mail his entire shop is now ‘rubble’.
Mr McAnally, 29, lives on an island north of Scotland and was unable to get a flight to Glasgow yesterday evening when the fire had reached his shop.
He is currently waiting for a flight there now and will meet with his ‘best friend’ and owner of neighbouring tattoo parlour Hundred Demons Duncan Sweeney before heading to Union Street to assess the damage in person.
Speaking about how he discovered his shop was on fire, Mr McAnally said: ‘I was sitting in the pub and the guys put in the group chat that there was some smoke coming round the corner.
‘Then an hour later they were like “oh there’s a fire above that place now”. Every hour it was just getting worse and worse until the evening and we just saw fire coming out the windows.’
He said: ‘I just bought my first house a few months ago and we found out my wife is pregnant last month and we are renovating the house so I kind of thought I was having my really busy and difficult year already, so this is the last thing I need.
‘I don’t think it’s properly sunk in yet, I sort of just jumped straight into problem-solving mode.
The vape shop on Union Street in Glasgow pictured before the fire destroyed it and the rest of the building
Firefighters damp down the remains of a fire which broke out in a building adjacent to Glasgow Central railway station
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are pictured near the remains of the partially collapsed historic building
The photo above shows the moment thick black smoke was seen billowing out of the vape shop
Hairdresser Joe Diaz was one of many businesses that were lost in the blaze. He told how he fled the building alongside his partner and a client as the smoke began to spread
‘I’m ok in a crisis. I’m just trying to make sure everyone else is alright and then I can be sad about it later on once there are some solutions in place.’
Beauty parlour owner Sam Hendry, 32, told the Daily Record ‘everything has been wiped out’.
She has estimated to have lost £15,000 in the fire and is now borrowing cash from family members to rebuild her S’Amuse Studio business.
She said: ‘I have lost absolutely everything – everything has been wiped out. I built my studio from the ground up.’
Carina McCreery only opened her Hard As Gels nail bar four months ago and says she will now ‘going to have to do it all over again’.
Hairdresser Joe Diaz, 33, was with a client and his partner when flames began to engulf the building.
He said the trio decided to ‘run and get out of here’ when they started seeing thick smoke spreading.
Mr Diaz’s was not insured and he is raising money online towards setting up a new salon.
He told how he, his partner and the client, fled about 10 minutes after the fire began, saying: ‘We were right at the edge of getting out of there in time.’
He said: ‘The first floor was fully covered in smoke. That was really scary.’
As they moved down through the building, they saw ‘really heavy, dark smoke’.
He said: ‘We just got our client and said, let’s just run and get out of here as soon as we can.’
The client was ‘paralysed by anxiety’, he said, but they made it out of the building and saw smoke pouring out of the vape shop.
Initially, the fire appeared to be contained and Mr Diaz left to get a cup of tea, but when he returned, he was confronted with a ‘heartbreaking’ scene as the flames had spread and the building was collapsing.
He said: ‘It was heartbreaking. Of course, it’s your business, you have a lot of business stuff.
‘But you take very emotional stuff with you to work – things that have a lot of sentimental value.’
Mr Diaz, who is originally from Chile, has set up a crowdfunding page on GoFundMe, asking for help to ‘rebuild our little studio after the fire’.
It said: ‘As many of you may already know, our little studio has burned down, taking with it five years of dreams, hard work, and love.
‘We all sometimes think about the three things we’d grab in an emergency but, in a moment like this, you realise none of that really matters.
‘Everything happened so quickly. By pure chance, I happened to be on the phone looking out into the street when I saw the smoke starting to rise.
‘Otherwise, we would have been inside the studio with the door closed, just as we usually are. It’s impossible not to think about what could have happened.’
Passerby Lamin Kongira, 42, attempted to battle the blaze before firefighters arrived but had to abandon his attempt as explosions rang out.
A female police officer is spotted wearing a facemask at the scene of a devastating fire in Glasgow
A new video posted on social media shows a cloud of black smoke streaming out of the vape shop before the fire ripped through the entire building
After braving the smoke, which grew in intensity during his desperate attempt to extinguish the fire, he said: ‘I ran into the shop and I saw a small fire under the counter.’
The man, who is originally from Gambia but has been living in Glasgow since 2009, said that there was an adapter charging system which was full of chargers, and that was where the fire began.
He told the BBC: ‘We tried to find a way to sort it out. What was going through my mind was the survival of people.
‘When I see there is no way I can control it, I quickly run to block the road.
‘Seeing the fire in its small form and now it has consumed the whole city, it is horrible.’
Many businesses have been destroyed in the fire, which an MSP compared to the devastation from ‘the Blitz’. Nearby hotels were evacuated and roads were sealed off.
Downing Street paid tribute to the bravery of firefighters who dealt with the blaze.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘Clearly, this has been a devastating incident for Glasgow, the loss of historic buildings that have dominated the city centre for so long. Our thoughts also go to those who have lost businesses and livelihoods.’
Labour MSP Paul Sweeney said there are now concerns for the viability of the remainder of the building.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast programme: ‘There’s the cafe, there’s the Blue Lagoon (chip shop), of course, which is famous for many Glaswegians.
‘It’s been completely wiped out, destroyed. I mean the building is a gutted shell. It looks like something out of the Blitz.
‘I spoke to building control officers last night on site. They don’t have much hope that the building can be saved at all.
‘We wait and see what their final decisions are, but it sounds like the remaining facade onto Gordon Street is likely to have to come down, unfortunately.’
Glasgow’s Union Street station, situated just a few yards away from the commercial building, was evacuated and closed off on Sunday, sparking travel chaos across Scotland’s biggest city.
The station was closed today with all journeys which were set to arrive, depart or travel through Glasgow Central cancelled or revised with some replacement services in place.
National Rail said the station is likely to remain shut on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Network Rail said: ‘Timescales for reopening will only be confirmed once we are able to safely gain access and carry out the necessary checks.
‘All services to and from Glasgow Central are currently suspended, and passengers should continue to follow alternative travel arrangements as advised by their train operators.
‘We will provide further updates as soon as more information is available.’
