Summerland 40Th Anniversary

[cheeky boy]

I would greatly appreciate being pointed in the direction of the "prominent people still keeping their heads below the pavement" as I still have questions I require answers to.

The architect was J Phillips Lomas, I don't remember him being held responsible despite him specifying "Oroglas" for the cladding and not designing adequate fire escape routes

 

The building was owned by Douglas Corporation but was leased to Trust House Forte. Some of the fire doors were padlocked by their staff but the manager, Mr Bertorelli, perished in the blaze

 

Most of the flack was taken by the chief fire officer who signed the building off as being safe. He got sacked

[Thomas Jefferson]

I'd like to see the whole Summerland area cleaned up and converted into a nice garden. No new buildings there, just nature.

[mrmadmanx]

 

I would greatly appreciate being pointed in the direction of the "prominent people still keeping their heads below the pavement" as I still have questions I require answers to.

Most of the flack was taken by the chief fire officer who signed the building off as being safe. He got sacked

That is a very bold statement cheeky boy can you please quote your evidence!

[manxman1980]

Irishone - I appreciate that you have personal motivation regarding the Summerland fire and that you have questions you want answers too. Perhaps those with the information you want could sent you a private message.

 

I think it is a positive thing that a proper memorial is going to be put in place and I don't think that this thread should be the place for unsubstantiated accusations. I know others will have different opinions on this but for once can we not be supportive on something that is good.

[parchedpeas]

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-les/gees/staff/fire-disaster-c1.pdf

 

It's all there for anyone that wants a read.

[Mike J M]

Repost

Edited July 6, 2013 by Mike J M

[Mike J M]

 

 

I would greatly appreciate being pointed in the direction of the "prominent people still keeping their heads below the pavement" as I still have questions I require answers to.

Most of the flack was taken by the chief fire officer who signed the building off as being safe. He got sacked

That is a very bold statement cheeky boy can you please quote your evidence!

I think Butch may be right.

 

http://home.ubalt.ed...summerland.html

 

Quote: Rohm and Haas, the manufacturers of Oroglas, themselves state that "There is no building code in America which would allow it [Oroglas] to be used overall as it was at the Summerland centre. A structure like that would just not have been allowed in America." U.S. fire codes require a comprehensive sprinkler system to be installed wherever Oroglas was used on a large scale, and in fact the UK subsidiaries of Rohm and Haas were aware of these codes and requirements...but did not pass them on to the Isle of Man chief fire officer.

 

Maybe Local knowledge: The Fire Officer's health... When the above was revealed, it destroyed him!!

 

The winter before completion 'off-cuts' of Oroglas were burnt in braziers onsite. Some I knew (now deceased) mentioned ' what off-cuts would fit in their workbags would give them a full tank

of hot water...

 

Hindsight is wonderful thing... I remember, we didn't go there that night because of the Fire Engines along the prom and just a little puff of what looked like steam from the upper outside putting area. Me and my mates headed for the Barbary... Thinking no point going to Jonny Silva's Disco - by the time everyone got back in after the 'False Alarm'... When I got home, Border TV were appealing for Blood Donors for the disaster that was still happening...

Edited July 6, 2013 by Mike J M

[irishone]

Irishone - I appreciate that you have personal motivation regarding the Summerland fire and that you have questions you want answers too. Perhaps those with the information you want could sent you a private message.

 

I think it is a positive thing that a proper memorial is going to be put in place and I don't think that this thread should be the place for unsubstantiated accusations. I know others will have different opinions on this but for once can we not be supportive on something that is good.

It IS a positive thing that "a proper memorial is going to be put in place", I wonder why it took so long and what the motivation was after 40 years have elapsed. You are quite correct regarding your comment on "unsubstantiated accusations"-I have a personal loathing for such, in fact I would take great care to make sure I was in full possession of all the facts before I would make a comment such as the one you are alluding to! I would desire to hear everyone's side of the story before making up my own mind as to who was culpable for the injuries I sustained on the evening of 2nd August 1973 to date I have only the information gleaned from articles on the internet to go by.Many years have passed and those involved in the planning, construction and management of Summerland are now few and far between!! To the best of my knowledge, obtained from what I have read-the fire started OUTSIDE the building and the construction was such that it spread inside and caused the deaths of 50 innocent people and severely injured many more!! I am interested in finding the first link in this chain of events and this is my ambition. Finally, my motivation is not only "personal", my motivation is also the dead of Summerland-those whose lives were cut short, Parents,Grandparents,Aunts,Uncles,Brothers, Sisters,Sons and Daughters, people who were of great importance to other human beings and whose loss left an unimaginable void!! I am motivated by the children who died in Summerland when their dream holiday turned into a nightmare-I am motivated by the fact that they did not get the chance to grow up, to realize their full potential!- Who knows what they could have become! In all the years since this happened I was never invited to a memorial service-I was there when these people were taking their last breaths-I remember their screams, I am haunted by them, and yet I was never included.It is only due to my late father's intuitive nature that we were not among the dead.He chose to begin to make his way out with his family despite the announcement that it was only a chip-pan fire (we were on the top floor) It is nothing short of a miracle that we survived and our names were not inscribed on the new memorial.

Edited July 6, 2013 by irishone

[manxman1980]

Irishone - I cannot imagine the effect of your experiences but I can do understand your desire to find truth about the chain of events on that tragic day. I am afraid I cannot help you as this occurred before I was born.

 

A few members of my family were involved in the rescue effort and taking the Oroglass for testing. It was not an event that they discussed very much, and certainly not with me. I know one member of my family recovered a number of bodies so I am not surprised it was not something that was talked about. Unfortunately all of my family who were there have now passed away so I cannot provide you with any useful information.

[Thomas Jefferson]

The newer Summerland built in its place always gave me the heebie jeebies as a kid. I didn't realise until years later what had happened there. You could just feel it in the air that something horrible had happened. A weird sense of claustrophobia. That is why I would like to see a relaxing garden area instead of a new building on the site.

Edited July 6, 2013 by Thomas Jefferson

[irishone]

Many thanks for your interest! Unfortunately there are so few people left it is virtually an impossible task! Most of the people have passed away. It must have been horrendous for those who recovered the bodies! I think I read somewhere that what was thought to have been a body turned out to be the charred remains of a chair

so I can only imagine the state the bodies were in, such was the ferocity of the fire! It is such a dreadful thing to have happened in such a beautiful place, there is such outstanding natural beauty.The concept of Summerland was a wonderful one, and a great way to encourage visitors-it is such a tragedy things turned out the way they did.

[manxman1980]

The newer Summerland built in its place always gave me the heebie jeebies as a kid. I didn't realise until years later what had happened there. You could just feel it in the air that something horrible had happened. A weird sense of claustrophobia. That is why I would like to see a relaxing garden area instead of a new building on the site.

 

I once spent a whole 24 hours in the "new" building (with permission!) and used to go to the Rollerdome on a regular basis. The only weird thing was how underused the building was.

 

Frankly I don't know what the best thing to do with the site is but perhaps a memorial garden would be a good idea.

[Thomas Jefferson]

It did burn down years before I was born. I am saying you could "sense" that something bad had happened on the site even decades later.

[thegal]

I know what you mean TJ. I remember going roller-skating when I was about 8 or 9 (years after the fire) and the place gave me the creeps, I was always happy to be going home.

[Roger Mexico]

If anyone wants to see what the new memorial, the planning application for it carries a mock-up showing what it should look like. If you want to compare it with the current state of the gardens, there's a photo in the IOM Newspapers article about the new memorial.

 

It's worth pointing out that the memorial gardens that the current and new memorials are situated in is not a memorial to the victims of the fire, but to an Edwardian Mayor of Douglas (I think it was built in the 1920s). It just happened to be a convenient place to put a memorial to the Summerland victims when something was finally put up 25 years after the disaster.

 

There really seems to have been desire to forget about the Summerland Fire among a lot of people on the Island, partly self-interest for some, partly a sort of collective guilt, partly an inability to process the horror of it. I suspect this may have been helped by the coincidence that none of the dead were (I think) locals. I found a Guardian article about the 30th Anniversary and how that went unmarked officially.

 

I could help noticing the sentence "At the end of the year, the building will be demolished and a hotel will be built on the site". Well demolition eventually took place, but plans have endlessly come and gone - the latest process started this year (this article has a current photo of the site). Perhaps the dereliction is the most fitting memorial of the lot.