Scottish Screen Archive

Title: FIRES IN TENEMENT BUILDINGS

Reference number: 1353

Date: 1945c

Sponsor: Scottish Home Department

Production company: Campbell Harper Films Ltd.

Sound: sound

Colour: bw

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 18.21 mins

Description: Various methods of fire fighting in tenement buildings in Edinburgh. This film provides detailed views showing how construction of older tenements affects access for firefighting and encourages the progress of fires.

Post-production unfinished - no music or background effects.

Preservation of this film supported by the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

Shotlist: Timing during transfer to digibeta was found to be 18.21 mins

Credits (0.24); Shot across city, possibly Edinburgh, to tall tenements (0.37); General views various streets of four-storey tenements (0.57); Shot of rear of block of tenements and close (1.13); Shot down close into Grassmarket, Edinburgh (1.22); Shot rear of tenement (1.27); Long shot across to newer stone tenement (1.33); Modern multi-storey block under construction (1.39); Drawing of mid-19th century tenement fire in Edinburgh (1.56); Shot of burnt out shell of recent tenement fire (2.19); Shot of street and tenement building (2.23); Back stair case. (2.32); Shots close and stairwell (2.46); Shot of Georgian terrace entry, courtyard (2.55); Man takes in doormat before locking door to flat (3.09); Shots tenements lining steep hill (3.20); Shots of trams in street and overhead cables (3.34); Tenements lining stairway as opposed to road (3.47); Shot from Grassmarket, Edinburgh, looking up Victoria Street to tall tenements (4.00); Rooftops (4.13); General views back courts with washhouses, courts divided into plots by railings (4.26); General views back courts (4.46); General views narrow closes, tunnel entrances, etc. (5.03); General views rear of tenements (5.17); Shot across city (5.36); Demonstration of fire fighting drill in a tenement fire. Shots of fire engine from Glasgow Fire Brigade. General views firemen at work inside building. Shots of fire at various stages and measures taken to fight it and to detect fire within the structure of the building (9.03); Shots of burnt out tenement building, details of the charred interior; v/o explains the spread of the fire (11.07); Demonstration of fire fighting in a tenement using wheeled turntable ladder to gain access to top floors; a civilian is "rescued" by fireman who carries him down a ladder escape; firemen then demonstrate search procedures, these include a search for residents by touch; an unconsious man is lowered from the flat by a sling (16.40); Tackling blaze from rear of building using extension ladders (18.30); Long shot across city (19.01); The End (19.08).

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