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. 50 people were killed and 80 seriously injured.
Summerland was opened on the 25th of May 1971. A climate-controlled building covering 3.5 acres (14,000 m²) on Douglas's waterfront, it had 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m) of floors and cost £2 million GBP. It was designed to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists...
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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. 50 people were killed and 80 seriously injured.
Summerland was opened on the 25th of May 1971. A climate-controlled building covering 3.5 acres (14,000 m²) on Douglas's waterfront, it had 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m) 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 public bars. It was a 1960s 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 clear transparent acrylic glass sheeting called Oroglas.
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. This part of the...
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