A massive fire has exploded at the Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art building for the second time, only after a smaller blaze damaged part of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building in 2014.

According to The Guardian newspaper, the massive fire began on Friday, June 15, 2018 around 11.15pm and nore than 120 firefighters and 20 appliances were called to tackle the situation, which also spread to a neighbouring music venue, the O2 ABC. This fire was much larger than the previous fire exploded in 2014. 

An areal view of the Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art building. It seems the building was entirely damaged. Image courtesy of Police Scotland Air/PA

After the 2014 fire, the restoration work had almost been completed, which is executed by Page/Park Architects. The fire crews were inside the grade-A listed building until the next morning of June 16 to control the blaze but the roof and upper floors of the building have been entirely destroyed, according to the reports. 27 people have been evacuated by the Police from nearby properties as a precaution, while there were no reported casualties.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, told The Guardian that, the "heartbreaking" fire had been “much, much worse than the one that took hold of the Mackintosh building four years ago – so the damage is severe and extensive."

"There are assessments and discussions ongoing with the fire service and building control about the structure of it and it’s structural safety. Obviously all of us hope the building can be saved but I think it’s too early to draw any conclusions from that," she said.

"The roof is gone completely. We cannot get in yet to assess the damage. I can only see from the street but it looks as if the building has been extensively damaged," said Iain Bushell, a deputy chief officer with the Scottish fire and rescue service (SFRS). Read more on The Guardian.

Top image courtesy of Sky News

> via The Guardian