Fire at Aberdeen Comb Works

About four o’clock this morning fire was discovered to have broken out in a bone-mill at the back of the main building of Messrs Stewart and Co.’s Comb Manufactory. The fire brigade was telephoned for, but in the meantime a hose reel kept on the premises was brought into requisition, and the flames were almost extinguished before the arrival of Firemaster Anderson and his men. By this time, however, the roof of the building, which is 50 feet long by 23 feet wide, had been destroyed, and a large quantity of manure burned. The building is used for crushing bones and other substances into manure, and at one end there is a kiln, at which it is supposed the fire originated.

The exact amount of damage done has not yet been ascertained, but it is believed that it will be very considerable. Had prompt measures not been taken by those on the premises when the outbreak was first observed, the consequences would have been much more serious. Almost adjoining the bone-mill is one of the largest buildings of the manufactory, and had this been ignited, the entire work would have been placed in imminent danger.

Source : Aberdeen Journal, June 1893