Manx fire crews remember 'horror' of Summerland disaster

All 16 of the island's fire engines attended the blaze

As the 50th anniversary of Summerland approaches, some of the firefighters who were first on the scene have been reflecting on the "shock and horror" of that "unimaginable" night.

On 2 August 1973, about 3,000 people were at what was one of the biggest indoor leisure complexes in Europe.

But the night turned to tragedy when a fire quickly spread through the building, killing 50 people.

Godfrey Cain said the scene was simply hard to comprehend.

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Mr Cain, who was 30 at the time and was on the second fire engine to arrive, was getting ready to go out for the evening when the fire bell rang.

He said: "The lad in the control room said 'it's Summerland and it's a proper fire'."

On arrival, he said the heat and noise inside the complex were "absolutely horrendous".

"The whole of the inside of the place was just one massive flame," he said.

"Fire, people don't realise, it's a living thing, it progresses, and it makes a hell of a noise.

"And there was an updraft, the fire was sucking the air out from inside the building, I've never seen anything like that, nothing where the fire spread was so rapid.

"I think we saw the first two bodies then. They were lying on the decking at the bottom of what had been the escalator. It was obvious we had a major disaster on our hands at that point."

Much of the building was destroyed in the fire

He continued: "It didn't take long for the fire to go, a couple of hours, but we didn't put it out, it burnt itself out, it ate all the fuel that was available, it ate the lot."

When fellow firefighter John Skinner was called out the day was already a notable one after the then 22-year-old and his wife had brought their first child home from the hospital that morning.

He said while there had been "quite a few false alarms" at the complex since it had opened in 1971, the first sight of the building engulfed in flames was unbelievable.

John Skinner said the those who attended felt a sense of "shock and horror"

Mr Skinner said: "I think every one of us to a man, when we turned from Peveril Square onto the promenade, the same thoughts went through our minds.

"It was just the absolute shock and horror because when the turntable ladder turned the corner, the whole side of the building was basically the pictures that everybody's familiar with.

"And we just couldn't believe what we were seeing."

About 3,000 people were in the complex when the fire broke out

Mr Skinner spent much of the evening manning the water supplies for the fire engines.

Reflecting on his memories, he said there was one sight which had stayed with him for all five decades since.

He said: "The crowd were going against my flow, and that one lady I can see her in a white t-shirt.

"Everybody was just screaming, but I don't know why I for that split second locked on to that lady, and that's the lady I see.

"She was just part of the crowd, but I can pick that one face out."

On Monday, the efforts of members of the fire, ambulance and police services in dealing with disaster and its aftermath, and its lasting effects on them, were formally recognised for the first time.