'We escaped Glasgow city centre inferno then watched the building crumble to the ground'

A couple have told how they fled the inferno in Glasgow city centre before watching the building crumble to the ground.

Joe Diaz, 32, and his partner Dan Campbell, 29, own Joe Diaz Hair on the fourth floor of 111 Union Street and were inside the studio working when the fire broke out on Sunday.

The hair studio, in the B-listed building that was destroyed, is located just along the corridor from the iconic dome that caved in on itself after burning for hours.

The couple ran down four flights of stairs with a client to escape while the building filled with smoke.

They were both working with the client when the alarm went off in the building.

Dan had gone along to the conference room, which is in the dome that collapsed, to speak to his mother on the phone.

It was there he noticed something was not right.

Speaking to BBC Scotland News he said: "I could see a lot of smoke but I thought it just could be from the fryers in Blue Lagoon.

"But then I started to see flakes of ash in the air then I heard a huge bang - that must have been the first explosion.

"So I rushed back to the salon and told Joe and the client 'we need to leave now'."

As the couple realised it was not a false alarm they had to get from the fourth floor of the building to the ground floor to escape.

Dan said: "Everyone was panicking to get out. On the fourth floor there was no smoke but you could smell it.

"The third floor was the same but the second floor was filled with smoke and people were trying to get out of the offices.

"Then on the first floor that was crazy. It was completely pitch black and filled with smoke, it was impossible not to inhale it."

He added: "I just remember seeing the sheer panic on my client's face. That, with the smoke, was the most horrifying thing."

After escaping the blaze, the men stayed to speak to police and watch the situation unfold. They saw how quickly the fire spread and watched the dome they had been in hours earlier collapse.

"The fire became really huge around 40 minutes after we evacuated," Dan said. "We could see it engulf the first floor and it just spread from there.

"They just kept dousing the flames in water but the flames wouldn't stop."

Dozens of business owners have been impacted by the fire, many of them good friends of the couple who have worked alongside them for years.

Joe said: "It was so heartbreaking. We have been in the building for five years, we spend so much time between our studio and the conference room.

"So many of our friends have also lost their businesses, it's not just how devastated we are for ourselves, it is everybody we know."

Joe said the couple had a lucky escape as the fire spread quickly due to the building containing a lot of flammable materials.

He explained: "The inside of the building is mostly made out of wood - all of the floors and a lot of the structure.

"It's a very old building filled with plasterboard and wooden supports.

"Once the fire was in the building I didn't think there was much the firefighters could do."

He added: "There is no street access from the back of the building - where the train station is - the entire building just collapsed and everything around it is rubble."

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: "We were alerted at 3.46pm on Sunday, 8 March, to reports of a fire affecting the ground floor of a four-storey commercial building on Union Street, Glasgow.

"At its height, 18 appliances and specialist resources were mobilised. The incident has since been scaled back and nine appliances, including three high-reach vehicles, remain in attendance.

"There are no reported casualties."