Fifty two years to the day that fire hero died... he gets the honour he deserves
manchestereveningnews.co.ukThe alarm was raised at 3.47pm on October 22nd 1971. Smoke spotted escaping from a basement rapidly became a raging blaze engulfing an entire factory.
It destroyed a five-storey spinning mill and changed one family's life forever. Forty fire engines converged on Texas Mill in Ashton-under-Lyne that day and a fire report later said: "the dense smoke was severely punishing the crews who were penetrating the building at various levels." At 6pm "without warning" a section of the upper floors collapsed "carrying away the external (fire) escape" as two crew stood on it tackling the fire.
A sub officer was partially buried and dug out from the broken and twisted escape. But firefighter Norman Nolan, who was with him could not be found.
The two men had been using a hose through a fourth-floor door to douse flames. Despite further falls of masonry and the extreme hazard of the fire several attempts were made to find Firefighter Nolan before it was too dangerous to do so.
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