Summerland disaster
The remains of the centre.
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| Date | August 2, 1973 |
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| Venue | Summerland Leisure Centre |
| Location | Douglas, Isle of Man |
| Coordinates | 54°10′02″N 4°27′27″W / 54.16713°N 4.45753°WCoordinates: 54°10′02″N 4°27′27″W / 54.16713°N 4.45753°W |
| Type | Fire |
| Cause | Cigarette |
| Deaths | 50-53 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 80 |
The Summerland disaster occurred when a fire spread through the Summerland leisure centre in Douglas on the Isle of Man on the night of 2 August 1973. Between fifty and fifty-three people were killed and eighty seriously injured.
Summerland was opened on 25 May 1971. It was a climate-controlled building covering 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) on Douglas's waterfront, consisting of 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2) of floor area at a cost of £2 million. The building's hull and the interior were designed by two different architects—they did not match their planning to each other and thereby created a venue with significant fire risks that were only to become apparent later.
Summerland was designed to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists and comprised a dance area, five floors of holiday games, restaurants and public bars. It was a 1960s concrete design 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 around 7:30 p.m. on 2 August 1973, and was caused by three boys who were smoking in a small, disused kiosk adjacent to the centre's miniature golf course. Eventually 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 limited fire-resistance qualities. The fire spread to the wall's interior soundproofing material, which also had poor fire-resistance qualities, causing an explosion that ignited the highly flammable acrylic sheeting which covered the rest of the building. The fire spread quickly across the sheeting on the leisure centre walls and roof, and through vents which were not properly fireproofed. The acrylic melted, which allowed more oxygen to enter and dropped burning melted 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, adding to the conflagration.
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