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The Summerland Disaster occurred on the night of August 2, 1973. Fifty-one people were killed and eighty seriously injured when a fire spread through the Summerland leisure centre in Douglas on the Isle of Man. August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ...
1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...
Location within the British Isles Douglas (Doolish in Manx) is the capital of the Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin) and its largest town. ...
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 translucent acrylic sheeting called Oroglas. All-air and air-water HVAC systems use air ducts, outlets, and inlets installed throughout their buildings. ...
ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom Inflation 2. ...
Unité dHabitation, Marseille (Le Corbusier 1952) Brutalism is an architectural style that spawned from the modernist architectural movement and which flourished from the 1950s to the 1970s. ...
Structure of methyl methacrylate, the monomer that makes up PMMA Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or poly(methyl 2-methylpropenoate) is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate. ...
Fire The fire started around 19:30 (7:30PM) 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. Miniature golf, also known as mini-golf, crazy golf or Putt-Putt, is a game modelled after the sport of golf. ...
The fire services were not called for almost thirty minutes, and even then the call did not originate from the centre.Instead the 999 emergency call came via the captain of a ship located 2 miles out at sea who radioed the Isle of Mann Coastguard and said " It looks as if the whole of the Isle of Mann is on Fire".The Coastguard immediately called their colleagues in the fire brigade. It has been suggested that Firefighter Assist and Search Team be merged into this article or section. ...
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 Mann Fire and rescue Service was mobilised to the incident.
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. In the politics and government of Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, a public inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by the government. ...
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.
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