Denmark Place: London's forgotten fire that killed 37 people

In 1980, the area in London's Charing Cross Road near the junction with Oxford Street where the new Tottenham Court Road station stands, was a hotbed of unlicensed drinking clubs. The police were always closing them down, but they always seemed to open up again under new management.

On Monday 18 August, they were due to close down a South American club named Rodo's and a Spanish night club, El Hueco, the Hole, which occupied the upper floors of a building in Denmark Place, behind Denmark Street, 'Tin Pan Alley', once the heart of London's rock scene.

Just after 3.30 in the morning on Saturday, 16 August, Soho fire station, just a few hundred yards away, got a call to say the Denmark Place building was on fire. The fire brigade had not even known of the clubs' existence. There were about 150 people inside, what should have been escape routes were locked, and the fire had spread so fast that some people died with drinks still in their hands.

As for those who got out, some were illegal immigrants and melted away into the night, including quite a few who seemed quite badly injured. A man was later convicted of deliberately starting the fire, and died in prison. For more, see my book London's Disasters from Boudicca to the Banking Crisis (The History Press).

Quoting the book and an interview that I did in 2015, the Daily Express has just published an article marking the 44th anniversary of the fire

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1945243/John-Thompson-uk-biggest-mass-murderer-denmark-place-fire

A couple of caveats about the article. The title of 'Britain's biggest mass murderer' has surely now been taken by Harold Shipman, while Grenfell now has the unenviable record of being London's worst fire since the Blitz.

20 years ago today - a deadly disco fire

It was 20 years ago today….that one of the worst night club fires in history swept through the Ozone disco in Quezon City in the Philippines, killing at least 162 people (the site is pictured above). At the time there were 390, mainly students, inside premises that were licensed to hold only 35.

Just after midnight, survivors reported seeing sparks in the disc jockey’s booth, followed by smoke, which they thought at the time was part of the act. Within minutes, though, the building was engulfed in flames and part of it collapsed.

The president and treasurer of the company that operated the disco were imprisoned for providing inadequate fire exits and other fire precautions. In 2014 seven city officials were convicted over irregularities in the way safety permits had been issued.

The world’s deadliest ever nightclub fire happened at Cocoanut Grove in Boston on 28 November 1942, when 490 died. There too fire exits were inadequate, with the fire brigade saying 300 lives could have been saved if they had simply opened outwards instead of inwards. For the full story, see A Disastrous History of the World.

Brazil night club fire - 16 charged

Sixteen people will face criminal charges in connection with January’s fire at the Kiss night club in Brazil – one of the deadliest night club blazes in history in which more than 240 people were killed and 600 injured.

Police said the fire started when the singer in a band held a firework close to the ceiling, and insulating foam caught fire, spreading poisonous fumes through the club in the southern town of Santa Maria.

A fire extinguisher failed to work, and investigators said there was only one exit, a situation described as a "grotesque safety failure".   Escape routes and lighting were found to be inadequate, and the club was also said to have been overcrowded.

The singer, the band's producer, the club's owners, and fire officials will be charged with negligent homicide. (See also my blog of Jan 28.)

* Another intriguing story in the Londonist’s ‘forgotten disasters’ series – the Fatal Vespers.  Or see my book – London’s Disasters: from Boudicca to the Banking Crisis P113.   http://londonist.com/2013/02/londons-forgotten-disasters-the-fatal-vespers.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+londonist%2FsBMe+(Londonist)

Night club fires

Brazil has declared three days of national mourning for the 231 people who died in a fire at the Kiss night club in the southern city of Santa Maria.    It is said to have started when a member of the band playing there lit a flare on stage.  One band member was killed.

Most of the victims are believed to have perished from inhaling toxic smoke from foam insulation on the ceiling.  There are claims that people could not escape because there was only one emergency exit, and that at first security guards stopped them leaving before they had paid their bills.

According to reports, the club’s fire safety certificate expired last year.   Fireworks or flares were involved in other major night club fires in the United States in 2003, Argentina in 2004, and Thailand and Russia both in 2009.

Probably the deadliest night club fire of all time happened at the Cocoanut Grove in Boston during World War Two, when 492 people died.   It was believed to have been started when a junior member of staff lit a match to try to find a light bulb he had dropped on the floor.  For more details see A Disastrous History of the World.