The 1979 Woolworths Fire | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
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- Опубликовано: 4 июн 2024
- "On the 8th of May, 1979, a taxi driver in Manchester, England, radioed his dispatcher to say that he could see smoke billowing from a Woolworths supermarket in the middle of the city..."
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TRANSLATIONS:
► This video is also available in German ( • Das 1979 Woolworths Fe... )
SOCIAL MEDIA:
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► Suggestions: hello@fascinatinghorror.co.uk
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:45 - Background
02:30 - The 1979 Fire
07:18 - The Aftermath
MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "Underworld" by Myuu
SOURCES:
► "Fire!" by Paul Seaton, published in The Woolworths Museum. Link: www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/19....
► "'I'll Never Forget It': Manchester Remembers Tragic Woolworths Fire of 1979 That Claimed 10 Lives in Blaze" by Sarah Hodgson, published by Mancunian Matters, May 2013. Link: www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/li....
► "Inside the Manchester Woolworths Blaze - The Fire That Claimed Ten Lives - and Changed Britain" by Rob Williams, published by Manchester Evening News, May 2019. Link: www.manchestereveningnews.co.....
► "Woolworths Fire: "I Will Never Forget the Sight of Her. She Had Blonde Hair and it Was Black With Smoke" by Rob Williams, published by Manchester Evening News, May 2019. Link: www.manchestereveningnews.co.....
► "What Happened in The 1979 Manchester Woolworth Fire?" published by BBC News, December 2012. Link: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england....
► "Nostalgia: Woolworths Fire in Colchester in 1973" by Matt Plummer, published by the Essex County Gazette Standard, August 2020. Link: www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/1....
► "Woman Trapped by Bars in Woolworths Inferno" published by the Birmingham Daily Post, May 1979. Available via the British Newspaper Archive.
#Documentary #History #TrueStories
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I just want to take a second to appreciate the fact that these videos run without the interruption of ads.
Wait. Then how does he get paid?
😀 - this, and a few other channels that don’t have advertisements/sponsorship I would be watching/be able to tolerate on the dumb version of RUclips, I hate advertising /sponsors in YT videos/tv/radio, and when pre-paid YT premium was available in the 🇬🇧, I subscribed to it - would not have been needed on this video. And when they do have them, I don’t see them - part of my fee is paid to the channel and I have to skip through the sponsorship 😠
@@ceciliacarver1311 Likely relies solely on Patreon supporters.
I’ve had some other RUclips videos that literally had adverts every 2 minutes. And after about 6 minutes I refuse to finish watching as it becomes unwatchable and I certainly don’t subscribe. I don’t mind them getting paid but that’s just abusing my time.
I pay extra for RUclips premium for no advertising.
How frustrating on so many levels: a quick response from fire dept only to be held up by barred windows; locked fire exits; poor communication throughout the event. Amazing only 10 people died, rest in peace
Arrrr the good old locked fire exit
You'd think the fire brigade would carry grinders for cutting metal anyway as a matter of course...
@@PaulRudd1941 I forgot about that, we don't even have cordless grinders at our workplace yet lol. I definitely want one they are the best.
And in 1979.
@@PaulRudd1941 jaws of life were not even around yet, similar devices existed at race tracks but were not yet really a thing in fire fighting tool kits. odds are that is what would be used today on barred windows.
If this channel has taught me anything, it’s that if someone says there’s a fire, you get out right away. Don’t wait to see the smoke because it could be too late. At the worst, you’ll be mildly inconvenienced. At the best, it will save your life.
Unless of course there is no fire and you end up crushed in the frame of the only exit. Keeping calm but taking action.
definitely leave but in a calm and orderly fashion
People tend to suck at risk analysis.
But keep calm
@Lydia130613, whenever I enter a building I look for fire exits.
I love that you give the backstory of Woolworths here. Not many people know that shopping didn't used to be all self-service.
If you look at old department and shop photos from the early 20thC even you can see all the stock piled up on shelves behind a counter and shop attendants would bring to you what you wanted. Even fruit and grocery stores worked like that until self service stores changed the way retail worked.
It was called ‘server service’ in Australia.
Damn, that lady's testimony is so frustrating. It's interesting seeing how people react to situations like this in real life, though, because people often think they'll do exactly the right thing and it's just not the case. Really enjoying this one!
Agreed. We’re all good guys until it’s time to prove it. I’ve experienced that first hand a lot. I’m nothing special.
Had a fire alarm in a hotel where my then girlfriend and I were staying, in the small hours. She went to the toilet and then started fixing herself a little snack, all with the alarm blaring in the room. Meanwhile I threw last night's clothes on (having slept stark bollock naked) while yelling at her to stop messing about and put her shoes on, before I eventually grabbed her coat in one hand and the scruff of her pyjamas in the other, marched her to her shoes, and then pushed her out in to the corridor, where she finally got a clue. Still feel bad about what I had to do to get her out that door.
@@brianb4816 Right! I've been in situations where my life has been actively threatened in the past and froze up before taking any action. It's human.
I was in a white out a few years ago in Michigans Upper Penninsula in a town called Christmas. A towtruck had rear-ended another car on a stretch of highway near the lake when lake-effect snow hit, hard. Both drivers abandoned their vehicles in the middle of the road and just...left the scene, instead of pulling off the road. Their vehicles were not immobile or badly damaged. We narrowly avoided hitting them because I slowed my own car down when I saw the whiteout cloud. I swerved around them and hit the snow bank instead gettibg firmly buried in an 8 foot wall of compacted plow snow. What followed was the longest hour of my life as I frantically dug my car out of the snow bank while cars careened into each other again and again. Never have I been so afraid in my life and Ive been shot at quite a bit (Soldier). My wife and baby were inside the car praying one of the idiot drivers didnt kill us. I threw roadflares onto the road but drivers continued driving into the whiteout cloud at speeds exceeding 55 mph slamming into the tow truck and each other. One old woman literally flew her car off of the street, hit air and landed 40 meters from the road near a river. I narrowly avoided being run down twice, diving out of the way as I tried to get the road flares far enough out to be seen. My wife called 911 and begged the State police to close the road but they didnt want to. They didn't bekieve her. I wisely kept a collapsible shovel in my trunk and used it to dig us out. Then I wobbled my car back and forth freeing it and maneuvered us out so I could drive us to a nearby gas station, half frozen, soaked and covered in ice where I bought some dry clothes and changed. We watched helpless as cars continued flying into each other. I helped those I could but we argued with the State police for over an hour on the phone before they FINALLY closed the road and sent emergency personnel. Some of the other drivers made their way to the same gas station and I angrily asked them why they didnt slow down when they saw the white out. Every single one of them responded along the lines of "Well, I figured that if it was dangerous they would have closed the road."
People are morons. Always assume they will do the dumbest possible thing in an emergency. The worst part of this is that I was the only person trying to help anyone. That really stuck with me.
@@blindtraveler844 you had to do it, didn't you.
The woman’s testimony is interesting. Most people think a tragedy won’t ever effect them. I’m glad she made it out. RIP to those who didn’t.
@ Dunkleosteus I've known several firefighters over the years. A fire can get out of control in as little as 30 seconds and most fires are not discovered right away. It was the cabbie who first called in this fire not someone in the store, a case in point. Most people, like the lady who testified, always underestimate fire. She was lucky to have such a smart daughter. I'm glad she made her mum see the danger.
Many of these videos have well illustrated how people are often initially disbelieving that a serious disaster is happening. Probably the most telling was the one he did on Pearl Harbor, in which a lot of sailors and others were in utter denial that they were under attack and trying to continue going about their usual business. Especially when things happen suddenly, people are slow to internalize that shit just got real.
If anyone wants to read more about this kind of behaviour, "The Unthinkable" by Amanda Ripley is a good book all about it
Never accept "It's just a little fire." If people are screaming "Fire!" and running out of the store, follow them.
What I took from that, was the fact that she was stubborn, arrogant, and when she could have shouted warnings and saved lives, she didn't.
Reading out the names of the victims is a welcome gesture. It helps to keep them human and preserve their dignity instead of slumping them together into a very abstract group of casualties.
It also brings back the trauma which, families like mine have spent years getting over. It's an unneccessary gesture which anyone not directly involved has absolutely no right to do. It's a blatant invasion of privacy and intrusion into peoples lives. Anti-Social Twit-Face at it's worst. It's nothing but theatre, an attempt to gain RUclips recognition and income.
You ok hun?@@philyew3617
@@philyew3617what a ridiculous take on this.
I just watched the movie The Towering Inferno for the first time the other night, and listening to the testimony from the mother, about how no one got up or panicked or moved, even when her daughter was like, I heard someone say fire, I was reminded of this exchange:
"Aw, now, just how bad is it?"
"It's a fire, mister, and all fires are bad."
If someone says fire, don't stop to wonder how bad or big it is. You can bitch about it later if it turns out to be nothing.
I admit I have an issue with it.
They said they didn't use conduit.
I've never even heard of that. It's CERTAINLY not legal. I HAVE seen it once, an I find it disconcerting.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 What is most often true is that the building may be built to code with conduit, but some subsequent tenant or new owner does some substandard additions to wiring or such, and simply runs Romex where it is not allowed, or even extension cords, possibly spliced. I've been in retail businesses and seen such Gerry-rigging, and wondered how their employees, or customers who are firefighters/police/EMTs don't report them.
silly to ask "Just how bad is it?" about a fire. nobody knows how bad it is right off the bat.
@@billolsen4360 Indeed. Fires aren't judged by how bad they are until after the full extent of the damage can be measured. You don't sit around and wait for it to become lethal, you get out of there before you become a casualty.
@@borderlineiq Dear Camas: This video stated clearly that it was the polyurethane in the furniture that was that cause of this fire, and NOT code violations. And it ALWAYS Gets Me Angry to hear in the aftermath of such a disaster that laws were passed "to make sure that this doesn't happen again". Bull Sh!t !!! Polyurethane is a synthetic, man made material created in an industrial laboratory. Do you really want me to believe that the scientists who created this material didn't test it to see if it was flammable ??? How Absurd !!! I say that they knew quite well but "cut corners" anyway to start making money off polyurethane ASAP. This man made disaster is yet another example that "Capitalists value financial profit over human life." It took 10 years to finally pass a UK law banning the stuff, all the while the manufacturer was undoubtedly raking in profits. But the original manufacturer either knew, or should have known that polyurethane was unsuitable for furniture because it was highly flammable. Why didn't the manufacturer of the polyurethane and/or the furniture manufacturer do Hard Time in prison for all those needless deaths ??? WHY ???
Thankfully the toll wasn't higher but when you said that 10 people died I was surprised that there hadn’t been more. Especially when you mentioned the 50+ people on the roof and only 13 were saved via the cherry picker. I was thinking the other 37 people who reentered the building had died.
Same thought here
@@jvccr7533 Yup. Me too.
Yeah. Those 37 plus others in the store.
That only 10 pershed sees a miracle.
I think they got bored on the roof and went back to their coffees lol...
I agree. Those numbers seem strange, given the barriers and what we hear of the rescue. There's clearly some large life-saving piece here we aren't hearing. Also, I wonder if this death number include folks who died only a bit later in hospital from smoke inhalation and such. There's a lot of unnecessary death here, but it seems like it should be much higher and there's a missing story piece somewhere here.
Remember this as an 8 yr old. I recall the media printed some really disturbing pictures of women stuck behind the iron bars with their arms reaching out with the toxic smoke pouring out around them and the media being severely told off for the upsetting photos. Sympathetic and informative video.
Sometimes upsetting images need to be shown to spark change.
@@WouldntULikeToKnow. I hear you. Kinda a comment on the changing nature of media? 9/11 and that footage of the falling man or the Bradford fire and guy totally on fire just walking on the pitch? Reality kinda sucks.
"Hey, while you're suffocating in this noxious smoke and will probably die a horrible, painful, searing death...mind if I take some pictures for my journalistic career lmao"
@@citsune174 I had a head injury from being attacked with a sledgehammer 2 years ago and I needed medical assistance. The two police officers that arrested me(not the assailant), and forced me to swallow and choke on my vomit, and lied in my disclosure, found the whole thing hillarious. Our police officers don't have body cameras in New Zealand, are extremely corrupt and they are determined to get guns. The media is on their side, and is printing numerous misleading articles misrepresenting the amount of gun violence our police face. Filming, photographing and recording those mofos is so so so so so important. I have told my partner multiple times, that if I am in trouble, neither of us is ever to be violent no matter what... he needs to start recording if he wants to help me.
Those women were behind bars because of their employer's negligent and evil actions. The reporters couldn't help them get out, but they could help it not be in vain and help them make their suffering have some point and some value.
@@punkybrewstar83 Naturally, I don't mean to make their deaths seem in vain...however, if I was burning to death and the last thing I saw through the smoke and tears was a camera lens, I'd feel slightly vexed.
Our Woolworth's burned down in Brattleboro, VT on November 21, 1972. It was an early morning fire. My mother worked there at the lunch counter. Several firefighters were injured. Our town was forever affected by the loss.
I miss Woolworth... we had one in Downey Ca. I remember eating at the lunch counter..I've always kept a vivid picture of Woolworth's lunch counter in my minds eye...green Formica countertops,chrome napkin holders old school cash register... Better times polite people that cared...
Gravesends branch caught fire in 66
Oh wow I didn't know that was a real place!! It's mentioned so often in The Whisperer In Darkness, though I thought Mr Lovecraft had simply invented it.
Cyril should be posthumously awarded a medal. I'm glad that lady taught her daughter to be smarter than she was. Great video as always! I recommend the channel to almost everyone I know 👌👍
Years ago I attended a fire handling course (for office managers, about what to do in a fire and how to prevent one). They showed video of this fire. One of the things that was pointed out to us was that many people stood around watching the fire from outside with everyone assuming someone else must have phoned the fire brigade already. So the fire had an opportunity to really take hold before the passing taxi driver finally flagged it up and the fire brigade were called. Had they been informed at the beginning, it's possible that everyone would have been rescued as they got there so quickly. So the critical message there was, don't assume that someone has already phoned the fire brigade.
That just about qualifies as the bystander effect, the BE is more psychological in that people hesitate to come forward to help as they hope someone else will do it instead, but as for assuming that someone else has called the emergency services when no one might have has to be a sub-category of the bystander effect in my opinion.
When i witness a scene of emergency with i automatically ask if help still needed and the Call was was done, loudly. When all is set i mind my own again or engage when needed. I learned this Calls pretty well by now...
Stressed People sometimes outright forget the Call or can't do it..
In this day and age nothing would be any different except the useless twats would be standing there filming everything on their bloody phones!
That is the one thing the Red Cross will remind you of again and again if you take one of their life saving courses... YOU call 911 and never assume someone else will.
I’ve seen 911 (999 in the UK) spokespeople on the news say over and over that they’d rather have to thank people for calling and tell them that emergency services have already been dispatched than to never get the call or get it too late.
When you see multiple people running, it’s probably time to run, even if you don’t know why yet. Same with if you hear someone yelling about a fire, always better safe than sorry.
My brother was in an expensive restaurant once when they were alerted of a fire and to evacuate, yet there wasn’t any sign of one at all. The fire sprinklers going off was the main reason most people finally left, as I imagine people didn’t want to abandon very expensive meals.
Once he was outside on the street he turned around to look at the building and the entire second floor was on fire, black smoke pouring out and firefighters were helping a woman out of the second story window, you could see the intense red glow of fire behind her.
Fires can REALLY sneak up on you, so don’t wait for “proof” of a fire or you might not get out in time!
Just don't panic. If people run, don't do the same in panic. But you better also move - in an appropriate pace.
I guess with really expensive restaurants it's not the cost of the food that concerns people (they won't pay a penny for anything in that situation) but the rarity of the occasion. When there's a waiting list of several months and it's a really prestigious restaurant, people don't want anything to ruin it.
That said, in most cases with restaurant fires, I've known the staff to move to temporary premises while the restaurant is refurbished, and I'm sure the patrons on that night would be first in the queue for reservations.
Just grab up your vittles if you're gonna miss 'em so bad. Nobody's gonna notice a few plates and some cutlery's been bogarted.
@@evegreenification I like the way you think!
I've worked in several highrises and they have drills so you know where to go if the alarms go off for real. Some buildings will actually fine you if you ignore the alarm during a drill.
I worked on the 24th floor of a 60 story building in Los Angeles when the city did a drill to see how long it would take to evacuate the entire building. My thigh muscles were pretty sore the next day but I was happy to know I could walk down that many flights. With regular drills we only had to go down 5 flights.
I was in Piccadilly Gardens on that day; off duty and have never felt so helpless in my life. It was an utter torment to know people were dying in there so I can imagine how my colleagues felt. I was privy to the post fire investigation as we studied it on my Junior Officers fire prevention course. Those that perished did so very close to safety but sadly could not be saved in time. Many difficult rescues were made that day through barred windows on the upper floors. If I remember rightly a number of casualties were found by a locked exit door at first or second floor level. The place was a death trap and safety legislation was seriously revised after that incident. Coincidentally it was in the process of inspection at the time and maybe if the fire had occurred a day or two later all the issues may well have been addressed but, who really knows. Why those women re-entered is beyond my comprehension but the practice now is that one firefighter remains with those awaiting rescue, or was, as with current manpower cutbacks we would be lucky the hydraulic platforms are available. We have lost so many special appliances over the last few years due to financial constraints we would wouldn't be able to match the number of special appliances that attended that incident. The firefighter that went on to the roof is a friend and still lives locally. I imagine Mike still suffers unwanted recurring visions of that day. I know I do and I had no hand in firefighting.
Very poignant. So many people seem particularly angry at Woolworth's, but you know and I know that they were no exception at the time. Many retailers operated with violations like the locked doors, etc. It's just that Woolworth's was a prosperous chain, so made a more apt target, whereas local merchants often did the same dangerous thing, but luckily never killed customers.
Between the mother telling her daughter they weren’t leaving because there was no fire, and then that it was a small fire that someone would put out - and the people refusing to evacuate until they finished shopping or dining for items they had purchased ... I feel both sad and frustrated
Human nature unfortunately. Think of the Titanic where most passengers were appalled at the thought of getting into rickety lifeboats in the middle of a frigid ocean.
Wow, the kid had more sense than her mom! I'm now living in the US but I'm originally from the Greater Manchester area and recall this incident very well. Years later I spoke to emergency services workers who were there on the day who described the scene of total devastation inside the building. RIP to those who died especially Cyril Baldwin who lost his life in helping others to escape.
One of the common themes of this video - especially the Pearl Harbor one - is how often people seem to be in denial that a serious incident is actually happening, especially when things start suddenly. Even despite clear warning signs people take some time to internalize that shit did in fact just get real, and want to just keep going about their business. Biased towards normalcy I suppose. Kids I think are quicker to realize and internalize the severity of a situation, less held by this normalcy bias, more easily excitable, and so on.
Yeah, the idea of "It's just a small fire" is completely insane. I've watched enough disaster videos to know that small fires can turn into incredibly huge fires in a very short amount of time. Watch videos about Cocoanut Grove, the Station Nightclub fire, and the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire. Fascinating Horror did them all, and each time it was "just a little fire" which spread very quickly.
I got that into me pretty early for any Incident, i look that i move towards Escaperouts. Not wanna get caught in the middle of a Panic.
I zoom out in sudden incidents pretty quick. After initial Shock I get calm, controlling and cold.
Right after it's over/taken care of, i brake down.
It's good you remembered that person. RIP
@@dx1450 Yep. In my state, we literally have a fire season. Usually their natural, though sometimes man-made both accidental and arson. Typically, in all cases, they start out small and far away from people.
To anyone who was a child in the 1980s, the pick 'n' mix selection in Woolly's was truly the stuff of legends.
I was more of a hot dog kid
Very true, and the bags were incredible, they were huge and seemed to have some form of reinforced bottom ready for you to load the bag straight to the brim. You'd never be allowed to serve sweets by the kilogram today :/
Our department stores, and particularly five and dimes, in the states used to sell heated nuts as concessions, much like some businesses do bags of popcorn. The smell of toasting or warming peanuts or cashews was truly intoxicating as it wafted through the store, and nigh impossible to resist unless you were just flat broke.
@@borderlineiq That sounds amazing to be fair. I can't say we had anything that fancy.
@@superspecky4eyes I can't remember how much it cost, as I was a kid, but you could buy maybe several ounces of warm, toasted nuts for probably under $1. Just amazing.
As is paraphrased so often in the comments section of this channel "New safety regulations are almost always written in blood".
Still, I am glad to learn that the Manchester fire truly gave Woolworths the kick in the pants that it needed with new management and a new focus on fire safety and prevention. As somebody who has worked around fire safety before I am also very pleased to learn of their focus on getting smoke detectors out to the general public and helping drive their cost down. That alone has probably saved countless lives. Even though it's a few decades too late, well done to the new management team at Woolworths who oversaw all of these positive changes.
"New safety regulations are almost always written in blood" such a great phrase.
The fact that they would go on to promote fire detectors is something I also found interesting
I've been in a store twice when fire alarms went off and I was one of few who actually left. The first time the manager was screaming at the top of his lungs at people to get out and get away from the building because no one moved and then they stood directly out front, just milling around in the fire lane. Better it be a false alarm and go back to my business than die because I didn't pay attention.
It's depressing how incredibly stupid people can be.
I HOPE it was because fires are becoming so relatively rare now that everyone just assumes that it's just a drill or false alarm and they don't take it seriously...but even so that attitude may get them killed one day in a real emergency.
As someone who was around before landfills when burning trash was common. I must say that furniture WAS extremely flammable!!
The fun bit is the cyanide in the smoke. Don't be in a closed space with that stuff.
burning trash is so much better than landfills, we should move to zero landfill
@@chatteyj Indeed. Since those hydrocarbons are already above the ground, it provides us with circular energy when burned. Landfills are a waste of space, and emit a similar amount of greenhouse gasses like carbondioxide and methane, without getting anything in return.
As you probably know, leaving it to rot and burning it are both oxidation processes.
i saw a demonstration from the local fire department and they had left a lit cigarette on a chair that was made with the same material. it went up like a roman candle and destroyed everything in the room.
@@chatteyj Burning trash is terrible for the environment. Speaking as a ‘beyond organic’ farmer, one of the worst things my livestock are exposed to is the smoke from my neighbors that insist on burning all their trash.
My mom remembers this vividly. She was 19 and just on her break from work. She nipped into Woolies to pick up a few things before heading back to the offices on Dale Street. She left thankfully about 30mins before the fire broke out. But she has always been left with a what if, feeling.
And you have subsequently emigrated to america?
Was this the Australian Embassy building by any chance? Looking at the smoke it must have been pulled into the building and smoked out the offices.
@@chatteyj Hehehe.
Mom?
It’s mum.
I recall having a Woolworths store near me before it closed years ago. I didn't even know it had such a long and extensive history like it starting in America. Despite living around the same part of the country as Manchester I'm surprised I never heard of this terrible incident. At least the act for making sure furniture is fire resistant came out of this.
what a fool, the chemicals used as fire retardation is poisonous to humans, "Act" = cashcows
Funny you should say that…I’m an American who remembers Woolworth’s well, but had no idea they expanded beyond North America!
I always appreciate how you take the time to speak and list out the names of the dead (when able), it’s a nice touch and shows that they won’t be forgotten
It's a gross invasion of privacy and brings back the trauma suffered by families like mine who
spent years getting over it. People who were not directly involved should keep their nose out. It's an example of (Anti)Social Media at it's worst.
I've always wondered how people can ignore all of the warnings of an emergency but just the other day my husband and I were walking into a store when the fire alarm went off. People began covering their ears but continued their shopping (including myself and my husband). A store employee was standing there looking pretty unconcerned so everyone assumed everything was all right. Finally after a couple of minutes the employee started telling people to exit the store. Looking back, I am pretty disappointed in myself for not reacting appropriately as I always thought I would. I don't know what caused the alarm to go off, but the store was back to normal when we went back a couple days later.
Yeah, no. The hell with that.
Fire can not only outrun you, it can outrun you DRIVING.
Please see books on the Paradise, CA fire as well as Fire Lover by Joseph Wambaugh.
I heard a fire alarm once. I was on the 3rd floor of a business building.
It's 3 beeps in the US, btw.
I was down the stairs and out the door within 30 seconds. False alarm but I'd rather be wrong than right on that one.
I live in Ontario, where earthquakes are extremely rare and small. We had one about a decade ago and it happened while I was at work. The whole building started to shake and my entire office...we just stood there staring stupidly for several seconds. It was only when someone from IT, who had grown up in Iran, yelled, "what are you all doing? It's an earthquake, get out!"
Of course, the earthquake was minor, but ever since then, I've never been so smug about how I'd react in an emergency like that.
Yeah that's kinda odd. The vast majority of humans where I live are very startled by alarms. Ofc these humans had what are known as fire drills a few times per year in grade school.
I remember being in a Home Depot store when the fire alarm went off. Naturally I started to leave and someone came on over the PA saying that the alarm system was being serviced. I noticed that very few people started walking toward the exits.
A few years ago I was in a Walmart and while I was paying for my stuff the manager started telling people to evacuate. There was no alarm at first, but the manager and staff quickly started instructing everyone to get out. Since I had just finished paying it didn't really affect me that much, but the lady behind me started complaining that the cashier should ring her stuff up first, even as the alarm started going off. When the cashier and manager told her no, they need to evacuate, she huffed and said, "Well how long is this going to take?" They were like, "Lol, it's an emergency, we don't know."
It wasn't a fire in this case, it was a gas leak, and ultimately everything was fine, but there was still a good reason to need to evacuate. Fire or no fire, if staff and management are telling you to evacuate, I wouldn't argue or question it. They certainly aren't doing it for funsies, just to mess with your day. I'd rather be safe. What baffled me though was how many people just congregated right at the exit, some customers and staff lighting up to smoke, knowing that the reason for evacuation was a gas leak.
Nice video. You should do a video about the L'Innovation fire in Brussels in 1967. 251 people died, but the accident is almost forgotten.
This is such a criminally underrated channel. For the amount of research, quality, and effort that goes into these videos, he should have millions of subscribers.
WHY? All he's doing is copying other people's work and trying to make money from RUclips advertising.
I used to love Woolworths. It had so much to offer. I was sad when Woolworths closed for good!
The testimony of that woman with her daughter truly infuriated me. Kids are smart, and when they sense danger, LISTEN! TO! THEM!
Yes, I remember when I was ten, warning my mother that a tornado was coming (the sky was black and the air was absolutely still, not a leaf moving). She pooh-poohed me and told me to eat my dinner. Two minutes later, the tornado sirens went off. I never felt so vindicated. Our area had 26 tornadoes that night.
I am now 20, but I am still very wary about disaster both manmade and natural. I hate being caught out in storms if I notice anything strange about the clouds being in a Tornado prone state as you get further from the big city, but also I also wary about the possibility of fires especially if there is any faulty wiring being that I lived in a neighborhood that had houses from the 60s with old wiring based around the electric coding of that time which didn't require grounding wires and overall had the wiring done much different from today.
Remember the Boxing Day Tsunami and story of the 10 year old girl who warned everyone to get to higher ground when she saw the water recede because she'd just learned about tsunamis in school? That story has stuck with me for years. The tsunami happened on my 5th birthday, and since then, I've always been the hypervigilant one in the group that will say "we need to get out of here" at any sign of danger.
@@Gail1MarieTWENTY-SIX?! Christ, hope y'all were okay
In 1969 there was a similar fire in the then relatively new Woolworths store on Briggate, Leeds. The fire started in the cafeteria which was gutted and the rest of the building suffered extensive smoke damage requiring a full refit.
Fortunately it wasn't open to customers at the time and unlike the Manchester branch, it was a modern purpose built department store (it's still there, albeit now threatened with demolition, until recently occupied by House of Fraser, and you can definitely see the Woolies house corporate style from the 1960s in its design.)
They later moved to much smaller premises beneath an Odeon cinema in the Merrion Centre at the top end of town. Seems as though they had a number of really close calls in the years leading up to the 1979 fire, none of which were in any way heeded.
Was in a bar yesterday and went to use the emergency exit to get to the beer garden and it was closed. Thought of this and the other similar tragedies caught on this channel. I always check for my nearest fire exit now.
Aircraft and buildings - make sure you know how to get out - imagine being blindfolded - which is what would happen with thick black smoke - plus choking, unable to breathe. Seconds count.
This made me remember a fire in a Woolworth storeroom in the city where I live, back in the '80s or '90s. The storage area was essentially a huge concrete box on the ground floor of a 27 story building. The fire smoldered for several days before it was finally possible to extinguish it. The entire highrise building was shut down for weeks to clean up the soot and smoke damage that went all the way up to the roof. Nobody was killed or injured, fortunately.
Odd how we've gone full circle: from needing a clerk to show us an item (this was also the case for grocery stores before the "supermarket") ... to self service displays ... to having someone we never meet pulling & packing items in a warehouse (on-line shopping is just Sears& Roebuck mail-order catalog sales).
IMO if Sears had realized the internet when they should have, There would be no Amazon Empire. They would just be a book store online. Amazon today is basically the Sears catalog of yesterday. Basically everything under the sun you can order it(though you cant order a flat packed house on Amazon, Sears did that for a bit). Suits at Sears really dropped the ball on internet shopping, Even though they had the back end knowledge to make it work.
@@filanfyretracker Yeah, look at cab drivers. I don't believe any of them drive any better, tho. In fact, kind of scary-bad both times (of 3) I've been in them.
You could never get one when you need one and they're gone now.
@@filanfyretracker There seemed to be nothing you couldn’t order from the big Sears catalog or its smaller specialty catalogs back in the day, including English and Western saddles and live chicks from the farm catalog. 🐥
@@filanfyretracker Are you sure you can't buy a house from amazon?
@@spiritmatter1553 I remember going to the back of a Sears store and discovering sample gravestones; you could have one custom-engraved and delivered. Talk about "cradle to grave"!
I worked for woolies 2001-2009 when we closed. This was in the fire safety training video. They took fire safety MEGA seriously.
Yes... It's called Bolting the Stable Door after the horse has escaped. Woolworth's along with many others considered safety, of any kind, as an inconvenience. If you watched the video properly they clearly learned nothing from the earlier fire in Colchester did they.
I miss Woolworths. So sad they closed after all those decades
I love that you bring attention to the victims who suffer these tragedies. Even though they happened decades and decades ago, it still matters.
My grandmother (born 1908) worked at the lunch counter at Woolworth in Brooklyn New York when my mother (born 1930) was probably a pre-teen to early teen and continued until I was in my late teens.
The Woolworth stores here were referred to as “five and ten cent stores”.
I never knew there were stores in Europe or they carried different items.
Binged watched all your content over the few days. Its great, what sets this channel apart is the notes on improvements made to prevent this disaster happening again. Thanks for making
Plainly difficult does a similar form of videos that also discuss the legacy and historical impact of disasters, if you’re interested. I do agree though, it’s so hard to find channels that cover morbid content without playing into jump scares and horror music.
I binged this channel when I first found it. Took a few days to watch all of them, because of work and all. I agree too, I love the way he doesn't dramatize these stories. This is one of my favorite channels.
I binged all of his videos when I found the channel too. If you haven't found Mr. Ballen on RUclips, you are in for a treat. He's an ex Navy Seal that tells fascinating true stories of things people have been through.
I’ve been bin watching too...
Respectfully, don't get complacent. I've seen all kinds of stupid long after this.
From illegal fire drapes in theaters to overcrowding, to locking doors during business hours.
Like how he always honors the victims, and seems that it’s researched well about what happened
We lived in Manchester and was there that day.
I was 11. My mum dragged me by the hand down some narrow fire stairs. Think it was towards the back of the store, because the stairs were old, narrow and dusty.
We passed thin windows which opened only a little because of bars on the outside. Never knew why that was.
There were so many people trying to get down, so it was slow going, people started pushing.
Some were going back on other floors to grab merchandise to take out.
At first we weren’t bothered, some people joked, others carried on shopping. As more streamed to the exits a panic set in. Children started crying, women began to cry or shout.
I never saw smoke or fumes until we got out. As we all stood there we were shocked to see the scale of the fire and that some couldn’t get out.
Never realised why so many were on the top floors until you explained. Staff were in offices and the alarms didn’t sound up there.
Thank you so much for covering the Manchester Woolworths fire with great respect and without all the drama. It is always refreshing and educative.
I was 13 at the time and remember it like yesterday. It was covered on local TV and radio. The sight of the thick, black, billowing smoke is what stays in my mind.
You might have noticed a BBC sign next to the Woolworths building - that was where the BBC Local News was broadcast before the unit was moved to the (now demolished) BBC New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road, which was built 3 years earlier in 1976.
After the fire, Woolworths in Manchester was back and remained at that building until sometime around the 1980s, when it became a casino of sorts and it's now back as a Poundland or something (I've not been back in the City Centre since around 2016).
The testimony of the eye-witnesses was chilling but, unfortunately, typical.
There's a pattern when covering these tragedies and disasters, where it takes something like this to wake people up, but politicians are slow to bring in legislation to stop these tragedies from happening again.
Even now, furniture restorers have to replace pre-fire regulations cushions and padding with materials that are fire-resistant.
Once again, thank you. Your videos are very much appreciated.
Lvoe from Manchester UK.
I’ve been chiding stores about their counter-evacuation management in my area. One was a thrift where they chained up a door. I raised the issue with the fire department, and they added an alarmed crash bar on what would be a fire door. Then I go there again and it’s chained up. I need to sit with the management and show them a video about the triangle fire.
probably also find all the information on fines, I dunno about where you are but in some cities chaining up a fire exit is not a cheap citation from the fire marshal. Management may not care about chiding, but once you start talking dollars and cents(or your country's equal to that term if not in the USA) that gets more attention.
I recently ended up in a work meeting ( really more like a tribunal) and grilled why I told my supervisor that he couldn't lock a lighted emergency exit while the building was occupied after he had. :-/ It was just stupidity. I couldn't believe it.
@@marthapackard8649 Good grief.
When you find a second violation has occurred in defiance of code, go to a higher local authority to get action. If that fails or in lieu, contact a news department in either a newspaper or radio or television and push to get a story on local fire code dangers. They're all eager to report health inspections of restaurants, but fire code problems are a sleeper. Don't have to be.
@@marthapackard8649 My friend's sister works at a nursing home. She looked out the window toward a restaurant next door and saw that a car--parked right next to the occupied restaurant--was on fire. She grabbed a fire extinguisher, ran over, and put it out. She was scolded by her boss for using the nursing home's fire extinguisher, because the fire didn't happen on nursing home property. Some people are idiots.
Furniture store fires have produced a whole litany of gruesome events, probably worthy of a "Brief History" video.
Apart from the toxicity of the smoke, the sheer fire load in places like that is *titanic* and in storage spaces generally nicely stacked for a bonfire. They tend to be very lethal to firefighters in particular.
I remember one around ten years or so ago at a British Heart Foundation used furniture store in Kidderminster. From alarms sounding to the place being completely engulfed and the roof caving in took around ten minutes. I believe that one was an electrical problem too.
There was a horrific fire at a sofa outlet in Charleston, South Carolina over a decade or so ago. Nine firefighters lost their lives. It was a litany of mistakes, but part of the issue that let what the fire spread is exactly what you described.
@@doryna_sira Oh, yes, that was the first one that popped to mind. Horrible. I mean, it's sometimes part of a firefighters *job* to go in there and put life on the line, but still, every firefighting life lost is a tragedy. Back the Red!
Fabric stores too. I remember going to a fabric outlet & thinking it would horrible if it caught on fire.
Great comment! I agree a lot could be said about the furniture store catastrophe’s
Frank Woolworth was so ahead of the times and what stores he had. So many items to explore and prices were great! It was an adventure and they also had a place to eat or drink coffee or tea or have another beverage. So much and so big. He deserved to earn money. I miss it. I grew up in Chicago and Woolworths was a good place. In San Diego downtown we had one for a while but in the early 1990s it was gone.
A strange response to a video showcasing how his desire for money and prioritisation of property over people directly resulted in people dying...
These are so well done. The stories are told in a dramatic, but not over-the-top manner and they are placed in historical perspective. That this deadly fire took place in 1979 surprised me. And then to learn that, in a similar 1973 fire, customers had refused to evacuate because they would not leave meals they had paid for! Whoa. Human beings are endlessly fascinating and amazingly bull-headed.
Thank you for highlighting the names of the victims, it's important that remember they were once human beings with lives of their own, not just another statistic. Once again, another very informative video.
I'm from Manchester and as a kid I remember asking my Mum why there was no Woolworths in town. She told me all about this fire and how she remembers that day vividly and it being all over the news and in the papers, and how everyone was so shocked and saddened by it. I don't remember the fire as I was only 2 years old at the time. I used to love Woolworths it was such a great shop. After the fire there was two Woolworths that opened up in the Manchester Arndale, one was called Woolworths gifts and treats and the other one I think sold toys, but they weren't proper Woolworths stores that sold all the range of products.
Great video by the way. I love this channel
Im from Manchester too and i remember the fire being on the TV ect as i was 9 yrs old at the time , i remember the tv showing the staff trapped behind barred windows screaming for help ..its a sight and sound that has never left me!
From Manchester also and yeah I fondly remember those 2
Mega tastic. Sean. Matt. Me too. I would of been 7yrs old and remember shopping with my mum in town on that day and being FASCINATED with all the commotion (we were safely on the other side of Piccadilly Gardens waiting for bus home) I don't remember much else and I can't remember ever talking about it with her before she died when I was 14 but I'm glad it changed a few policies so those life's lost weren't in vain ✌
@@dizzydevil547 oh no that's so sad. Bless their souls ❤️
@@ChorltonandtheWheelies oh that's so sad and awful. Yeah you would remember it being that old. Aww God bless your mum's soul ❤️
As a child of the 70's I remember this being all over the news and then as I was older the campaigns to get the sofa's made safer. Even years after the law changed though there was still people being killed by those sofas as obviously many of that type were sold before they were made illegal to sell. I can vividly remember seeing films where the fire brigade would show a small fire started on two sofas one of the dangerous old type one of the new and the old went up so much faster and filled the air with thick black toxic smoke. They encouraged people to check the labels on their sofas and get rid of the "deadly ones". This was also in a period when much fewer people had smoke alarms and more people smoked. The fire service used to come out to peoples homes offering free inspections offering safety advice and free smoke alarms I recall. not sure they do this any more.
I remember watching this on the 9 o'clock news and you could see trapped people at upper floor windows waving for help through steel bars and firemen trying to rip the bars off the walls to no avail and then the people were not visible anymore and flames were coming out the windows, the next day those images had been edited out of the news film, it was heartbreaking watching the dilemma unfolding, the trapped people and the Fremen only inches away from each other and holding hands at one point but the bars between them and stopping the people climb to safety, terrible images that must have been deemed too graphic for public consumption I suppose, in any emergency situation you are the person who will save you, no one else will do it so act fast,
It's so weird how in the US, the original Woolworths was a discount store, the UK one was a department store, and the AU one is a supermarket.
We had Woolworths in Ireland too, and they were discount stores.
@@gerardacronin334 Still have them here in Germany.
@@kpanic23 That's so odd, says they still exist as discount stores in Mexico too. F.W. really knew how to market himself, lol.
While they didn’t push the discount thing particularly, the UK ones were very much at the lower end of the market, in some ways the torch was carried through into pound shops and the out of town bargain stores.
@@johnd6487 Ah gotcha. When I heard they occupied 6 floors and had a furniture department I at least thought they'd be higher end lol. I forget how expansive even the most basic discount stores were then.
I remember this one from a Channel 4 series called 'Blaze' years ago - one of a series along with Black Box, but it's disappeared into the archive void somewhere. Don't think they ever repeated it, shame because it had some really interesting stuff about fire investigation, arsons and psychology. Always remember the expert who pointed out how little many people 'panic' when a fire breaks out.
Thank you: I also remember that but couldn't remember the name!
I have the associated book. There was a series of C4 series looking at disasters including Blaze, including trains (Derail), buildings (Collapse), road (Crash), and maritime (Mayday).
I read a book entitled "Blaze" and I believe a Woolworth's fire story was mentioned here, but not sure it's the same one as the one in the book Said it was caused by a crisp-chips-fire. A young girl who was in the fire brigade lost her life. I no longer have the book, so it might have the one in Colchester. We used to have at least 2 Woolworth's in Atlanta and 1 in Chamblee near me. Fortunately, none caught fire; they just went out of business-or moved elsewhere. I miss them.
I used to go in this store with my gran as a young kid and even then I remember thinking it was a fire trap. There were tall ashtrays everywhere because you could smoke in shops then but I remember no end of dimps just discarded on the floor. I remember the place being really confusing to walk around as well, a bit like IKEA today in fact.
As an aside, in the USA, F.W. Woolworth renamed itself Foot Locker, found at most malls. And speaking of malls, I remember seeing the fire alarm go off in a department store, and still seeing people walk in.
Oh, that testimony is honestly really scary to me-- I guess maybe it's a good thing I've always had a real fear of fire! Thankfully the closest I've ever come to being in one has been the time wildfires have gotten too close to comfort. I do have a distinct memory of being in a movie theater when the fire alarms went off, though. It freaked me out quite badly and I and my group did evacuate the theater-- fortunately without real need. In the aftermath, when nothing happened, it did seem a little silly, but in light of this and so many of the other awful stories about fires on this channel, I'm really glad we did even if it did turn out to be a false alarm. It's very unnerving to realize just how difficult a fire can be to spot until it's right on top of you!
As the saying goes "it's better to be safe than sorry"!
As a kid Manchester city centre was my usual Saturday afternoon hangout. Off the bus in Stephenson Square then to the Joke shop on Tib Street for some stink bombs and the Pet shop to see the pigeons and ferrets, after that straight to Woolies for some pick 'n' mix before heading off down Market Street. I was in school on the day of the fire and my friend was called out of class by our headmaster, his mum had been in store shopping when the fire happened, she was taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation, glad to say she made a full recovery. Rip all those that lost there lives in this tragedy, that should never have happened in the first place, another sad day in Manchester's history.
You guys always respect and honor the victims. I have been binge watched Fascinating Horror videos all week.
My lasting memory of Woolworths was when I watched a shop assistant clear up some spilled smarties, back into their tube, before placing it back on the shelf.
It’s 2:23AM here. Sending love to whomever reads this from Washington State USA.
I was eight when this happened, and I remember being shocked at the scenes that were being shown on the news. As a Mancunian myself, it was on both local and national news, so we had double the coverage. I also remember that Manchester never got a proper replacement Woolies. I think there was one in the Arndale, but it wasn’t a patch on other stores in the surrounding towns.
The building still stands there today, with no evidence of the tragedy that took place all those years ago.
Mancunian = people who live in Manchester?
Very well told with your unbeatable voice and clarity of speech. Woolworths was popular in 🇨🇦 Canada as well as USA.
I had to pass the damaged building that same day on my way to the nearby railway station. Earlier that afternoon, black smuts of soot had been raining down into the city streets.
The store's cafeteria was adjacent to a store of cheap furniture that separated the eaters from the usual exit escalators. The emergency exits for the cafe had been locked by store staff and fire-escape facilities.
I really miss Woolworths 😩 as a kid I used to go in there to buy Corgi and Matchbox cars, and get a bag of Pick’n’Mix sweets and the small fizzy drink cans. Those were the days…
Aye, full of tat. No wonder they went bust. Lol
@@ZJS0113 The former "five and dime" in the US has been replaced by the dollar store. Inflation, don't you know.
@@Gail1Marie yeah, most of the shops in small towns in the UK are some form of £1 shop
I've seen too many of these videos to ever accept anyone saying, "It's just a little fire, someone will put it out." If someone says the building is on fire, get out immediately.
Absolutely. "Just a little fire" is the same as "just a little pregnant". Either the building is on fire or it isn't.
Decades ago, I was working in an electronics repair shop. This newly hired 'tech' who was studying to be an Electrical Engineer laid a hot soldering iron on a stack of that old excelsior paper packing, instead of putting it into its stand. He started screaming, "The building is on fire we're all going to die!" He was less than 15 feet from the open front door, and he was standing next to the bench covered in burning paper. He was also blocking access to a fire extinguisher.
I shoved him out of the way, grabbed the burning pile ant took it outside. I stomped it out, then went back in to make sure there was no other damage.
He was still babbling like a little girl, and demanding that I call the fire department. The last I heard, he was working for RCA, designing TV tuners just before it was sold to France.
In a cramped space you really cant be too careful. In an open environment just about anyone can outrun fire.
I guess it was a generational thing but back then people her age weren't educated on the dangers of fires in schools as her daughter's generation and later. We were taught that any fires in a building were serious and there was no such thing as a "little fire" because if someone was saying "fire" that little fire was going to be a big fire in seconds and the smoke was about to kill anyone in the building in minutes.
@@robertsteinbach7325 The old WWII era wood barracks that I took Basic in were a complete loss in about four minutes, due to decades of waxing bare wood floor. Four minutes was barely enough time to evacuate both floors. That's why 'Fire Sentry' was a critical duty and that no one was allowed to smoke in those 30 year old firetraps. If a Fire Sentry fell asleep, he would end up behind bars.
I remember reading about this fire in the newspapers and seeing it on the TV news. I was 22 and lived in London at the time. 30 years later I was living in Cheshire and working in Picadilly Gardens. Fortunately we have much better fire safety now.
Hard to believe a store that big didn't have sprinklers and fire alarms in 1979. The Hudson's Bay flagship store in Vancouver, BC, Canada, has had an intricate fire suppression system and fire alarm system right from the start when the building was built in the 1920's (sprinklers and alarms can be seen in old photos of the store).
I work overnight and these videos amaze me
I love Tuesdays cause of you. Also my night off.
Man I fondly remember Woolworths pick and mix. Used to go shopping every weekend with my mum when I was a child and Woolworths was the only place I looked forward to going to, you could seriously get anything
Wow. I remember shopping at Woolworth's as a child with my mom and siblings in 1986. I was 7 years old. We lived in Berlin Germany at the time. It was an experience for sure. Just thought I'd share that memory with you. :) Thanks for posting. I didn't know this.
I well remember visiting this store many times. It was vast, and I find it amazing that there were so few casualties. The fire station was only a few hundred yards away, or things might have been even worse.
Excellent as always . This company was always sloppy and dangerous . We had a huge fire here in Cleveland due to fireworks being for sale around1904
Ohio? I can't find anything about it in the local newspaper archives.
Everything was synthetic fabrics and materials in the 70's, its a wonder anyone survived. I nearly died of itching.
This is true.
“Someone will put it out” typical stoic British response (in those days)!
I remember attending a business meeting in a hotel around London in the 1980’s. Our company director was a 60 year old ex guards officer, who had fought the Mau-Mau in Kenya, somebody shouted ‘fire’, he ignored it. Those present at the meeting were getting a bit twitchy, one opened the meeting room door and looked along the passage and reported back in a loud (semi hysterical voice) “Mr #######, people are running along the passage”. He replied in a voice not unlike Sergeant Wilson, from Dads Army, “Sit down, if it’s serious they will come and tell us”. There was no fire!
I remember this when I was younger. It frightened me then and I've never forgotten it. I know my sister remembers a similar fire in Liverpool in the 1960's in the Hendersons store. You should look into that one and post it on here.
I seriously appreciate your respect when making these videos. Reading out the names of the people is a detail that I think most people don't go to
The day of the fire we had been shopping in our local woolworths. I remember seeing the footage on TV later that day.
Most stores in the UK still do not have sprinklers and it is still possible to find stores without working fire alarms or detectors.
I did a delivery to B&Q at Hull and whilst on break just down the road saw the store burn down.
I was about to ask where you have seen Woolworths recently, because I thought they’d all closed down years ago. But then I twigged what you meant. I’m surprised that there’s so many stores without adequate fire suppression systems. I can’t say I’ve noticed, but I’m sure I’ll be keeping a keener eye on such things.
You weren't delivering smoke alarms by any chance?😂
HUGE no-no in the States, but please note, you'll see locked doors to this day. God forbid they should pay security if that's a concern...
They can be very hard to open as it is, much less FAST.
I think US stores should use panic bar doors more often for this reason.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Many newer US stores and factories now have alarm delayed fire doors. When you push on the panic bar, first an alarm sounds and then from 15 to 30 seconds later the lock releases. This solves the shoplifting problem as the alarm will draw employees (or a factory supervisor) before the door can be opened yet still leaves a usable fire exit. It would be the longest and most harrowing 15 seconds of one's life waiting on one to open as a fire approached and hoping it didn't malfunction...
@@brianr1686 . Not sure what I delivered, I was hauling a white trailer full of palletised brown boxes, Ironically they all got burnt in the fire.
The same type of polyurethane foam had been hung on the walls of the band alcove at the Station Nightclub in Warwick, Rhode Island to act as noise insulation. When pyrotechnics were fired off in the nightclub as part of a show the polyurethane foam on the walls ignited. The fire quickly spread and it emitted the same thick black toxic smoke as in the Manchester fire. Many people were overcome by the smoke or otherwise trapped inside the building. Ultimately 100 people were killed and many more were injured.
I would question the number of people who refused to evacuate a fire because they wanted to finish eating first if it weren't for the fact that when the store I work at was on fire and everyone was standing in the parking lot waiting for an all clear from the firefighters currently inside the store, some lady walked up to us and asked us if it was okay if she could run inside the burning building because she only wanted bread.
Seems like alot of people had poor judgment. Especially the mom. "It's only a small fire". Those small fires become big ones
Right? I seem to recall they said the same about the Summerland leisure centre fire, before it spread unseen through the walls and ignited the highly flammable plexiglass ceiling. Really, there's no such thing as a "small' fire. Most are beyond fighting with an extinguisher or a bucket of water within around 90 seconds - indeed I remember a 'Fire Kills' PIF from the early 80s that stated exactly that, and how if you discover a fire your priority should be to GTFO and call 999 rather than messing around trying to put it out.
A "little fire" on the stage curtains at the Iroquois Theatre and the Station Nightclub turned out to be - in the words of Great White's lead singer during the latter incident - "not good".
They must imagine something like a few papers burinng in a waste basket and employees just slow to fetch a fire extinguisher. Such a dunderheaded view of fires. And it is still common.
@@stevenstice6683 Within weeks of the Station fire, a similar fire erupted in the Minneapolis night club The Fine Line (pyrotechnics ignited the ceiling). You've never heard of it because Minneapolis requires sprinklers in any venue that holds 200 or more people. The sprinklers came on and the patrons and staff evacuated with no loss of life. Sometimes the fire codes get it right.
A fire doubles in size every 30 seconds. Shit gets bad FAST.
Have enjoyed binging this channel while sick with covid
Feel better soon 😊😊
"The doors were locked" is an all too common massive cause of death by company owners who value money above human life.
This was (to my way of thinking) a good video telling a bit of history at the beginning, the tragedy, and then telling how to fix it!
I'd like to suggest the Rapid City Flood of 1972 as a topic for you to cover. I'm from near there and I've grown up knowing about it, but it would truly be fascinating to learn about it through your excellent work. Thank you!
He gave done that already? Have you checked?
It's up. Already watched it.
@@felipecardoza9967 really? I thought I had watched all of them and I don't remember seeing it. I guess I will have to look again
Yeah I just looked through again and I don't see it. Please share the link if I'm missing it
@A G I was wrong. It was Plainly Difficult that covered the 1972 Rapid City dam failure and flood. I frequent both channels often and often forget who covered what. Sorry.
I'm a retired volunteer firefighter. Whenever I enter a large venue, or anywhere where a crowd has gathered, I take note of how to get out. Speed being essential before a crush of people. My wife used to say I'm paranoid. Nah, I saw, and heard about too many tragedies.
Same with my father. He would forbid me to go into certain buildings after inspecting them. I didn't know why... and now I do. Some people in town I can't look in the eye.
It's weird how lackadaisical people can be in regards to a fire warning. I use to work for a non-profit that ran a gym. In the fifteen years I worked there, we had numerous fire drills. Sometimes the fire alarm would go off and it wasn't a drill (it wasn't a fire either, someone would pull the fire alarm as a prank on rare occasion). Regardless of whether it was a drill or not, when people were told there might be a fire (with the fire alarm blazing in the background), many would actually say "Just let me finish my set of reps first." It was unbelievable!
I like how these documentaries are straight to the point.
I like that you mention the victims by name for remembrance. Thank you.
Well presented video and a little haunting too as I live in this particular area and my mum who worked nearby was in the store 30 minutes before the fire started. I remember The BBC covering the story extensively at the time as they had a studio next door
I really love these stories?! I get an education on an event I never even heard of before. And I love the guys voice! Great work!!! Keep it up 👍🏻
I was working for Woolworths in Shrewsbury at the time. It was a shock to all staff. We all had extra training what to do, even took up onto the roof.
Horror notwithstanding, nice one for giving a shout out to the formidable Woolworths Pick-and-Mix, very much a staple of trips to the precinct in the 1980s.
The only thing about having insomnia that's good is catching your uploads early! (It's 4:41 am my time)
Good morning! It's 11:50 am here
Nothing makes my day better than clocking out of work to a new fascinating horror video!! Love your content!
I’m sorry this had to happen. Thank you for speaking the names of the victims.
I remember it well, people of my age grew up with Woolies, it was the "go to store" for most things, I lived nearby at the time.
Very sad loss of life.
Thanks for the history.
Including Woolworths. Our town had a number of family run dept stores. One had a fire in the 60s. These buildings are now abandoned. Very hard to convert due to design👍
Were they built like factories? Because those are all the rage in Chicago. Very expensive as the area went up, BUT they already have sprinklers and HUGE elevators. Bigger than your living room.
Very solid buildings.
Hello 👋 Susan, how are you doing?
Done in by WalMart in many cases, unfortunately.
Fascinating Horror- Can you do a video on the Grenfell Tower fire? I watched that live on the internet as it was happening. I was so praying for those people to get out safely. Very sad and maddening, too.
That literally gave me nightmares for days after watching the news casts......and that Facebook live feed from the top floor.......I will never be able to live above the 7th floor.......maybe not even that high. 👎😰
And the worst thing is the fire brigade call centre were stupidly telling people NOT to get out.
Even worse, at the enquiry the dunder-Head of the London fire Brigade said that everything was done by the book and nothing needed to be improved!
Absolutely love your channel. I’ve watched every video you’ve posted and loved all of them. Keep up the good work and please never get rid of the background music
Locking emergency exits is a trend with building fires.
I love these videos, and love no ads ruining the video
@ 2:55 I like the addition of the slow & scary build-up of the ominous tone to the story at the point when the fire started.
I haven't been able to watch my FAVORITE CHANNEL in over a month so not sure if this effect is new, debuting for the 1st time on this video or not but nevertheless, IT WORKS PERFECTLY! Adding even more quality to this detailed story.
Your hard work & dedication is noticed and much appreciated Sir. God Bless You & Your Family.
"Despite this lightning-fast response, the fire that followed would be one of the deadliest that Manchester had seen since the end of World War Two, and would go down in history as a terrible and unnecessary waste of human life." This statement, and then learning that fire escapes were locked, windows barred, and people on the roof were reentering the building, I was amazed that "...by the time the flames were extinguished around two hours later, ten people had lost their lives."
As tragic as this loss of life was, I was amazed that the death toll was this low, it could have been much higher. My sympathies to the victims and their families.