The Summerland disaster occurred when a fire spread through the Summerland
leisure centre in
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
* Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...
on the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
on the night of 2 August 1973. Fifty people were killed and 80 seriously injured. The scale of the fire has been compared to those seen during
the Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
.
Background
Summerland was opened on 25 May 1971. It was a
climate-controlled building covering on Douglas's waterfront, consisting of of floor area constructed at a cost of £2 million. The building's exterior and the interior were designed by two different architects—they did not coordinate their planning with each other and thereby created a venue with significant fire risks that were to become apparent only later.
Summerland was designed to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists and consisted of a
dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and cities in ...
, five floors of holiday games, a
rollerskating rink, restaurants and public bars. It was an example of
Modernist architecture
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...
incorporating advanced controlled internal climate, built with novel construction techniques using new plastic materials. The street frontage and part of the roof was clad in Oroglas, a
transparent
Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to:
* Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material
They may also refer to:
Literal uses
* Transparency (photography), a still, ...
acrylic glass
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...
sheeting.
Fire
The fire started at around 7:30 p.m. on 2 August 1973 when approximately 3,000 people were inside,
and was caused by three boys who were smoking in a small disused kiosk,
on the centre's miniature golf course
and who told police it was likely started by a carelessly discarded match or stub. The burning kiosk collapsed against the exterior of the building. This part of the building was clad in a material called ''Galbestos'': profiled steel sheeting with
asbestos felt on both sides coated with
bitumen,
with no fire-resistant qualities. The fire spread to the wall's interior soundproofing material, which was highly combustible, causing an intense fire that ignited the flammable
acrylic
Acrylic may refer to:
Chemicals and materials
* Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound
* Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity
* Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosett ...
sheeting that covered the rest of the building. The fire quickly spread across the sheeting on the leisure centre walls and roof, and through vents which were not properly fireproofed. The acrylic material melted, allowing more
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...
to enter, and dropping burning molten material, both starting other fires and injuring those trying to escape.
The building's open-plan design included many unblocked internal spaces that acted as
chimneys
A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typ ...
, adding to the conflagration.
There was no attempt to evacuate the 3,000 people present
until the visible evidence of the flames prompted a panic-stricken mass rush for the exits. The fire was contained in an internal space within the walls until it penetrated the interior, destroying the wiring of the fire alarm system in the process. One survivor who was a child at the time, remembered her father noticing smoke coming from the ventilation shaft and had started to attempt to evacuate when the whole area erupted in flames. The survivor and her mother were separated from her father and sister and stuck in the venue before being rescued through a window by firemen.
Because of the locked
fire doors, many people headed to the main entrance, which caused a crush.
The
fire services
A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
were not called for over 20 minutes,
and even then the call did not originate from Summerland. Instead the first call came from a passing taxi driver, while another came from the captain of a ship offshore who radioed
HM Coastguard
His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the ...
and said, "It looks as if the whole of the Isle of Man is on fire".
The coastguard immediately called the fire brigade. The first responding fire crews realised additional resources would be required and almost every resource available to the
Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service
The Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service ( gv, Shirveish Mooghey as Savail Ellan Vannin) is the fire brigade of the Isle of Man Government, providing fire and rescue cover throughout the Isle of Man, an independent Crown dependency located in the ...
was mobilised to the incident (93 of its 106 firefighters and all 16 of its engines).
Victims
The fire killed 50 people, eleven of them under the age of twenty.
Around eighty people were seriously injured in the resulting crush and fire and have physical and mental scars.
The fire brigade's provisional total of 51 deaths at the scene was subsequently revised down to 48, and two others died in hospital, one in Douglas on 11 August and the other in Scotland on 29 September; the latter is excluded from the Isle of Man
coroner's list of 49 deaths. Ian Phillips of Birmingham University suggests these reporting discrepancies explain why some sources have given incorrect death tolls of 49, 51, or 53. The inscription on the 1998 disaster memorial did not give a death toll; its 2013 replacement lists all 50 names.
Aftermath
The death toll brought about a
public inquiry that ran from September 1973 to February 1974.
Denis Cowley QC acted for the
Douglas Corporation. No specific individuals or groups were blamed and the deaths were attributed to
misadventure, although the delay in evacuation and the flammable building materials were condemned. On 17 September 1973, three Liverpool boys – two of them 12 and the other 14 – appeared before Douglas Juvenile Court and admitted wilfully and unlawfully damaging the lock of a plastic kiosk next to Summerland. They were each fined £3 (equal to £31.86 in 2020) and ordered to pay 33p compensation and 15p costs. Changes to
building regulations to improve fire safety were introduced.
The centre was seriously damaged by the fire. Its charred steel skeletal remains were demolished in 1975 and then rebuilt on a smaller scale, construction commencing in 1976, with a smaller area of glass than the original, and a highly advanced fire extinguisher and alarm system. The centre reopened in June 1978.
Soon after the disaster, John Hinnigan was brought in from Blackburn fire and rescue to become the new chief.
2002 flood and final closure
In October 2002, torrential rain caused damage to several structures, as well as two landslides behind Summerland which dislodged two 50-tonne concrete blocks that had once supported the roof of the original building, but had not been removed in the wake of the fire. After a geotechnical team determined that the blocks could not be safely stabilised or removed, and that there was a risk they would fall into the buildings below, the site was scheduled for demolition. With the building also suffering from
concrete cancer
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse construction aggregate, aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after wa ...
, the remainder of the site closed in 2004, and demolition began in January 2006. The west wall remains intact as there is concern that its removal may cause the adjacent cliff to collapse.
Memorials
![Summerland Fire memorial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Summerland_Fire_memorial.jpg)
Forty years after the tragedy, a permanent memorial in the form of three granite columns was unveiled at Kaye Memorial Gardens, at the bottom of Summer Hill. It bears the names of those killed in the fire and is set into a circle of paving, alongside a stone laid earlier to mark the 25th anniversary.
On other anniversaries of the disaster many memorials take place, such as a memorial concert and a moment of silence at the location which is now a vacant site.
Depiction in media
One survivor wrote about her experiences from the fire in a book entitled ''Made in Summerland'', which was published in July 2018.
See also
*
Stardust fire
The Stardust fire was a fatal fire which took place at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland, in the early hours of 14 February (Valentine's Day) 1981. Some 800 people had attended a disco there, of whom 48 died and 214 were injure ...
, 1981
References
External links
"Fireproof' funland toll close to 50"€”Montreal ''
Gazette
A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.
In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspaper ...
'', 4 August 1973
On this day€”Memorial,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in "Research" section book ''From 21st century leisure to 20th century holiday catastrophe: the Isle of Man Summerland fire disaster''