A ceremony is to be held to remember a firefighter who died while battling a fire in Aberdeen more than 100 years ago.
William Armstrong Fraser, who was fatally injured on March 2, 1909 while up a ladder dousing a blaze at a bookbinder’s premises in Adelphi Court, is to be honoured by a Fire Brigade Union red plaque.
Plans for a ceremony to unveil a permanent memorialare being finalised to make sure his bravery and sacrifice is never forgotten.
The ceremony will take place at Adelphi Court
The ceremony will take place on Sunday April 24, at 12.30pm. It will begin with a vehicle procession from Trinity Cemetery.
As the entourage travels along King Street and onto Union Street it will be met by a piper who will lead the procession to the Adelphi Court site.
From 12.45pm, a ceremony will take place which will conclude with wreath laying and any flowers people wish to place at the plaque.
‘Don’t look up here’
The archives of the Press and Journal’s predecessor the Aberdeen Journal shows that Mr Fraser’s final words were to warn his colleagues of impending danger.
He was known as a hero to the last. To try and save others he shouted “don’t look up here” before he was tragically killed.
Mr Fraser was working at the top of the ladder to direct water from the hose into the burning building and his colleague David Martin was immediately below him.
At the time The Aberdeen Journal reported: “When the brigade arrived shortly after seven o’clock, the magnitude of the outbreak was immediately grasped, the number of large business premises in the neighbourhood at once raising fears of a destructive conflagration.
“From the hydrants in both Union Street and Adelphi Court, an abundant flow of water was kept pouring on the flames, and the dense volumes of smoke created the greatest alarm in the neighbourhood.
Mr Fraser fell almost 40ft
“About eight o’clock, while the fire brigade were strenuously combating the flames, one of their members, First Class Fireman William Fraser, met with a sad and sudden death as the result of being struck with a heavy piece of water rone.
“The material, weighing over one cwt., became dislodged from the roof, and swept the unfortunate fireman from his position on the fire escape – on which he had been at work – to the ground, a distance of nearly 40 feet.”
Thousands of people lined the route and parts of Aberdeen were brought to a standstill when Mr Fraser was laid to rest at Trinity Cemetery on March 5, 1909.
Crew commander Scott MacRory of the red watch at Central Fire Station said: “After press coverage of the fire service’s efforts to trace family members of firefighter William Armstrong Fraser they were successfully traced.
“They came into the fire station for them to exchange stories and photographs of William.
“On the back of this, the Fire Brigades Union has awarded a red plaque in memory of William’s sacrifice.”
What is the red plaque scheme?
The red plaque scheme remembers fallen firefighters across the country by the means of a plaque, situated close to the location where the firefighter lost their life protecting their community.