Summerland disaster

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The Summerland Disaster occurred when a fire spread through the Summerland leisure centre in Douglas on the Isle of Man on the night of August 2, 1973. Fifty-one people were killed and eighty seriously injured.

[edit] Background

Summerland was opened in 1972. A climate-controlled building covering 3.5 acres (14,000 m²) on Douglas's waterfront, it had 50,000 ft² of floors and cost £2 million GBP. It was designed to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists and offered a dance area, five floors of holiday games, restaurants and a public bar. It was a 1970s concrete design. It had an advanced controlled internal climate, and was built with novel construction techniques, using new plastic materials. The street frontage and part of the roof were clad in a frosted translucent acrylic glass sheeting called Oroglas.

[edit] Fire

The fire started around 7:30 pm in a small kiosk adjacent to the centre's mini-golf course. Eventually the burning kiosk slumped against the exterior of the building. The acrylic sheeting proved highly flammable and the fire spread quickly across the sheeting on the walls and roof, and through vents which were not properly fire proofed. The acrylic melted, which allowed more oxygen to enter and dropped burning material, both starting other fires and injuring those trying to escape. The interior sound-proofing material was also particularly flammable and the building's design included many unblocked internal spaces that acted as chimneys.

The fire services were not called for almost thirty minutes, and even then the call did not originate from the centre. Instead the emergency call came via the captain of a ship located two miles out at sea who radioed HM Coastguard and said "It looks as if the whole of the Isle of Man is on fire". The Coastguard immediately called the fire brigade.

There was no attempt to evacuate the 3,000 people present until the visible evidence of the flames prompted a panic-stricken rush for the exits, where many people were crushed and trampled because of the locked doors. Because of the locked fire door many people headed to the main entrance, which caused a crush.

The first responding fire crews immediately realised additional resources would be required and every last resource in the Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service was mobilised to the incident.

[edit] Aftermath

51 people died in the fire. The number of fatalities was worsened by the failure of power supplies and emergency generators, inadequate ventilation and locked fire doors. The death-toll brought about a public inquiry which ran from September 1973 to February 1974. No specific individuals or groups were blamed and the deaths were attributed to misadventure: the delay in evacuation and the building materials were condemned. Changes to building regulations to improve fire safety were introduced.

The centre was seriously damaged by the fire. It was demolished, rebuilt on a smaller scale, and re-opened in 1978. It closed in 2004 and final demolition started in October 2005. The east wall currently still remains intact as its removal would cause the cliff to collapse.