The two most “probable” causes of the fire that engulfed the Stardust nightclub in 1981, killing 48 people, were that it was started deliberately or an electrical fault in a hot-press, inquests into the deaths heard on Tuesday.
Dr Will Hutchinson, a forensic scientist and fire investigator, said however the cause of the fire could not be definitively determined as the “area of origin” could not be pinpointed.
It was however “possible” the fire started in the area of tiered seating known as the west alcove where the fire was first observed inside the ballroom, or in a hot-press in the main bar immediately adjacent to the alcove.
If it started in the west alcove, the “probable” cause was “deliberate” – ie started by someone on purpose. It was “possible” that it started by discarded cigarette or match by someone smoking, but electrical fault here was “unlikely”.
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If it started in the hot-press, the “probable cause” was an electrical fault, smoking was “possible” and “deliberately” was unlikely.
Giving evidence at day-102 of fresh inquests into the deaths of 48 people, aged 16 to 27, in a blaze at the north Dublin ballroom in the early hours of 14th February 1981, Dr Hutchinson examined where and how the fire might have started and why it engulfed the 2,025sq metre space in minutes.
The inquests have heard repeatedly the blaze was first seen inside the venue in the west alcove, at about 1.40am.
Dr Hutchinson, who has been engaged by coroner Dr Myra Cullinane, discounted as “unlikely” that the fire started in the roof, the roof void, or the lamp or stores rooms – all areas about which there has been speculation in the 43 years since the disaster.
[ Fire experts to examine if electrical fault caused blaze in StardustOpens in new window ]
There was “no evidence” of significant combustible material within ceiling void to support a growing fire, he said. Furthermore, if the fire had begun there, smoke would have been observed in the ballroom through gaps between ceiling tiles. And given the presence of lighting circuits in the roof-space, the lights would have failed sooner.
He dismissed the roof-space as a location despite numerous testimonies from witnesses outside the Stardust of seeing well-established flames venting through the roof at or before the time a small fire was first observed inside.
“I am as a scientist looking at the physical evidence available to me, and I would place that over the evidence necessarily of a witness. That’s my opinion,” he told Dublin coroner’s court.
It was “unlikely” the fire started in either the lamp or store rooms as it would have had to travel through the roof space, across the main bar, to the west alcove area. The roof over the main bar was not damaged.
The hot-press had two immersion heaters, wiring to one of which “wasn’t as good as it could have been” he said. It could “definitely” have caused “localised heating”.
“Was it enough to cause a fire? Potentially, but we don’t know.”
Plug sockets in the west alcove were not damaged before the blaze and there was “no evidence” that anything had been plugged in.
The jury was shown footage of a recreation of the fire from when first observed, conducted in 1981 at the Fire Research Centre in Borehamwood, outside London.
The simulation, using the same polyurethane-filled seats and carpet-tiles on the walls as had been in the west alcove, showed the “spread of flame across the wall” and “the spontaneous ignition of other seats as fire leapt forward”, said Dr Hutchinson.
It showed the PVC-covered seats would not have ignited unless there was a combustible item, like a jacket or cigarette packet, on the seat. Only a fire on a seat next to a carpet-tiled wall could generate enough heat to ignite adjacent seats, he added.
Within two minutes of the fire being lit all combustible material in the alcove was involved in the conflagration, producing large amounts of black toxic smoke. Air temperature 1cm below the suspended ceiling was 1,200 degrees Celsius “in less than two minutes”.
“Death would have been very swift,” for anyone present, he said.
The inquests continue.
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