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Boy, 14, Sets Off "Atomic Bomb" Inferno

More than 1,500 tons of nitrocellulose were involved in the incident. (BBC Monitoring)

SCOTLAND – A pounds 5 million blaze at a chemical factory was started by a teenager, the Sunday Mail can reveal. The 14-year-old sparked a full-scale emergency in one of Scotland’s biggest fires of the past 10 years. More than 70 firefighters with 20 fire trucks battled the inferno as barrels of chemicals exploded around them.

The fire at the former ICI plant in Ardeer, Ayrshire, sent flames more than 100ft into the air and could be seen 10 miles away.

Craig Masterton, 26, of Irvine, who was walking his dog three miles away said it was “as if an atom bomb had gone off”.

Last week the youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted wilful fireraising at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.

He was sentenced to 18 months at St Mary’s Kenmure secure unit in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, where he has been on remand. The teenager, of Saltcoats, Ayrshire – who was with another 14-year-old boy and a boy of 10 – got into factory, owned by NobelEnterprises, through a hole in the fence and was chased by a security guard.

After escaping the guard, the culprit torched barrels of nitrocellulose, telling the others: “This burns really well.”

He was charged soon after the fire. Charges were dropped against the other two.

A Strathclyde Fire brigade insider said the boy had done more damage to the former explosives factory than German bombers did during the Second World War.

He added: “It was a miracle no one was injured. I hope he has learned his lesson.”

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