ON THE evening of Wednesday, June 19, 1940 at around 9.15pm, fire was noticed by some men at Tillicoultry Public School at Institution Place, and immediately raised the alarm with the janitor Robert Murray.
The men entered the school, hoping to deal with the blaze themselves, but it had a firm hold so the Alloa fire brigade was called for.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the scene where the Tillicoultry Auxiliary Fire Brigade was already in attendance with Firemaster David Fraser directing his men.
News of the fire soon spread, and a large crowd gathered.
It was quickly discovered that the whole roof of the building was ablaze and shortly afterwards, it collapsed with sparks flying high into the air.
Flames also shot into the sky. The heat of the fire also hampered the efforts of the firefighters as it was so intense.
It was custom to use water from the River Devon where possible, but with it being a very dry spell, and the Tillicoultry Burn almost dry too, water had to be used from the town's water supply, which itself was already low.
Four hoses were used but by the time this had been set up, the fire had an even greater hold on the building, with the fittings being mainly made of wood.
Under the direction of Firemaster Robert Cairns, efforts were concentrated on saving the new extension to the school which had only been completed a few months earlier.
The flames were seen for miles around but luckily there was no wind that evening which could have spread the fire to other buildings in the vicinity.
By the early hours of the following morning, the fire was finally brought under control. By 5.30am, it was a smouldering pile of rubble and blackened walls.
During the fire, the chairman of the County Education Committee William Brown, Bailie T Kennedy, Convenor of the Property Committee, and Mr A C Marshall, the Education Officer, all visited the scene over the course of the night, along with the headmaster of the school Mr J L Shier.
It was estimated the damage amounted to £12,000. Twelve classrooms, staff rooms, cloakrooms and the large central hall were all lost.
The janitor had left the school at 7pm after the cleaners had finished their work and everything had seemed fine.
The part of the school that was destroyed was around 70 years old, and the only part that remained was the new cloakroom that had been recently built.
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