Summerland disaster

Summerland was opened on 25 May 1971. It was a climate-controlled building covering {{convert|3.5|acre|ha}} on Douglas's waterfront, consisting of {{convert|50000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} of floor area constructed at a cost of £2 million. The building's exterior and the interior were designed by two architects who did not coordinate their planning with each other and thereby created a venue with significant fire risks.{{cite web |url=http://home.ubalt.edu/students/UB13J07/summerland.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222031232/http://home.ubalt.edu/students/UB13J07/summerland.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 February 2014 |title=Article about the disaster based on the report by Dr Ian Philips |accessdate=6 September 2019}}

Summerland was designed to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists and consisted of a dance hall, five floors of holiday games, a rollerskating rink, restaurants and public bars. It was an example of Modernist architecture 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 acrylic glass sheeting.

The fire started at around 7:30 p.m. on 2 August 1973 when approximately 3,000 people were inside{{cite news |last=Shennan |first=Paddy |url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/remembering-summerland-fire-disaster-40-5118939 |title=Remembering the Summerland fire disaster, 40 years on |date=13 July 2013 |work=Liverpool Echo|access-date=16 May 2015}} and was caused by three boys who were smoking in a small disused kiosk{{cite web |date=2 August 2013 |title=Isle of Man 'shame' over Summerland fire disaster |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-23449990 |access-date=16 May 2015 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC}} on the centre's miniature golf course,{{cite web |author=Topping |first=Tony |date=1 August 2013 |title=Remembering The Summerland Disaster 40 Years On |url=http://sabotagetimes.com/life/remembering-the-summerland-disaster-40-years-on |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305130816/http://sabotagetimes.com/life/remembering-the-summerland-disaster-40-years-on |archive-date=5 March 2016 |access-date=16 May 2015 |website=Sabotage Times}} 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,{{cite web |url=http://www.aic.org.uk/Tradenames.htm |title=Asbestos information centre—trade names |accessdate=6 September 2019}} 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 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 to enter and dropping burning molten material, both starting other fires and injuring those trying to escape.{{cite news |last=Carter |first=Helen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/aug/02/helencarter |title=Isle of Man's forgotten holiday horror |date=2 August 2003 |work=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=16 May 2015}} The building's open-plan design included many unblocked internal spaces that acted as chimneys, 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.{{Cite news|last=McNeilly|first=Claire|date=10 May 2016|title=Summerland fire survivor: 'I don't blame dad for saving my sister and leaving me in blaze but I never got to tell him'|language=en-GB|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/summerland-fire-survivor-i-dont-blame-dad-for-saving-my-sister-and-leaving-me-in-blaze-but-i-never-got-to-tell-him-34700026.html|access-date=20 September 2021|issn=0307-1235}}

Because of the locked fire doors, many people headed to the main entrance, which caused a crush.

The fire services 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 {{convert|2|mi|km}} offshore 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. 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 was mobilised to the incident (93 of its 106 firefighters and all 16 of its engines).

The fire killed 50 people, eleven of them under the age of twenty.{{Cite news|date=2 August 2016|title=Summerland fire: Fifty victims remembered on anniversary|language=en-GB|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-36940128|access-date=20 September 2021}} Around 80 people were seriously injured in the resulting crush and fire and received physical and mental scars.{{Cite web |title=Summerland disaster survivor: 'I still dream of people in flames' |url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/summerland-disaster-survivor-i-still-dream-people-flames-1009785 |access-date=20 September 2021 |website=newsletter.co.uk}} 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.{{cite web |last1=Phillips |first1=Ian |title=Chapter 1: Introduction |url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-les/gees/Miscellaneous/fire-disaster-c1.pdf#page=12 |website=The Summerland Fire Disaster |access-date=31 July 2022 |pages=12–20}} The inscription on the 1998 disaster memorial did not give a death toll; its 2013 replacement lists all 50 names.

The death toll brought about a public inquiry that ran from September 1973 to February 1974. Denis Cowley QC acted for the Douglas Corporation."Mr Denis Cowley". The Times (London), 15 July 1985: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 4 November 2014. 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 and one from Glasgow 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 ({{Inflation|UK|3|1973|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=2}}) and ordered to pay 33p compensation and 15p costs.{{Cite news |last=Shennan |first=Paddy |date=2013-07-17 |title=Remembering the Summerland fire disaster, 40 years on |language=en |url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/remembering-summerland-fire-disaster-40-5118939 |access-date=2023-09-07}}

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.{{Cite news|date=6 July 1978|title=Summerland reopens|page=40|work=The Stage|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001180/19780706/031/0003|access-date=24 November 2021}}

File:Just above Derby Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1529228.jpg

Soon after the disaster, John Hinnigan was brought in from Blackburn fire and rescue to become the new chief.{{cite web |url=http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/tribute-to-former-fire-chief-1-7086108 |title=Tribute to former fire chief |publisher=IOM Today |date=3 February 2015 |accessdate=25 September 2015 |archive-date=26 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926041304/http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/tribute-to-former-fire-chief-1-7086108 |url-status=dead }}

After the fire, changes to building regulations to improve fire safety were introduced.

File:The Remains of Summerland - geograph.org.uk - 1819066.jpg

File:Summerlands site - geograph.org.uk - 4713913.jpg

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. 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, so the site was scheduled for demolition. With the building also suffering from concrete cancer, the remainder of the site closed in 2004, and demolition began in January 2006. Today, the site where the Summerland leisure centre once sat is an empty, undeveloped plot. The west wall remains intact as there is concern that its removal may cause the adjacent cliff to collapse.{{cite web |url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-les/gees/staff/fire-disaster-c9.pdf |title=THE SUMMERLAND SITE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY}}

File:Summerland memorial in Douglas.jpg

File:Summerland Fire memorial.jpg inscription on the Summerland Disaster memorial]]

Forty years after the fire, 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-23028646 |title=Summerland fire memorial built to mark 40th anniversary |last=Vannin |first=Ellan |date=24 June 2013 |publisher=BBC |access-date=31 October 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-23515689 |title=Summerland fire victims remembered on 40th anniversary |last=Vannin |first=Ellan |date=2 August 2013 |publisher=BBC |access-date=31 October 2017}}

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.

One survivor, Ruth McQuillan-Wilson, wrote about her experiences from the fire in a book entitled Made in Summerland, which was published in July 2017.{{Cite book |last=McQuillan-Wilson |first=Ruth |url=https://www.lilypublications.co.uk/product/made-in-summerland/ |title=Made In Summerland |date=30 July 2017 |publisher=Lily Publications |isbn=9781911177951}}

• Stardust fire, 1981

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.summerlandfiredisaster.co.uk/ Summerland Fire Disaster memorial website]
• [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AJEjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6qEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3081,696271&hl=en "{{-'}}Fireproof' funland toll close to 50"]—Montreal Gazette, 4 August 1973
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/2/newsid_2526000/2526967.stm On this day]—Memorial, BBC
• [http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/gees/people/profile.aspx?ReferenceId=9695 University of Birmingham, Ian Phillips] in "Research" section book From 21st century leisure to 20th century holiday catastrophe: the Isle of Man Summerland fire disaster
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI-DS_svsKY 1972 amateur film of pre-disaster Summerland] - Rick Newbry, Chris Mannion, Youtube

{{Nightclub fires}}

Category:1970s fires in Europe

Category:1973 fires

Category:1973 in the Isle of Man

Category:Building and structure fires in the United Kingdom

Category:Fire disasters involving barricaded escape routes

Category:Fires in the Isle of Man

Category:Sports venue fires

Category:August 1973 in Europe

Category:1973 disasters in Europe

Category:Crowd collapses and crushes in Europe