On the 29th of October 1998 a fire began inside a community centre in Gothenburg, Sweden.
That night the venue was supposedly hosting a birthday party for around 50 people… but
when the fire service arrived on scene they were confronted by an unexpected and horrifying
reality: the building was packed with more than four times that number, many of whom
were already beyond saving.
The venue where the fire took place was owned by the Macedonian Association – a cultural
organisation which served the Swedish immigrant community.
They rented it out for events like birthdays, dances and community meetings.
The space was a modest one – it occupied the upper floor of a two-storey building that
was shared with several other tenants, including a furniture store and a small theatre.
The main hall was supplemented by one small kitchen, a coat room, an office and a storage
area.
It was accessed by a stairwell at one end, with another stairwell at the other end to
serve as an emergency exit.
On the 29th October, 1998, the whole space had been rented out by a group of young people
for a private party – ostensibly a birthday celebration.
The Macedonian Association were assured that it would be a quiet affair, with a maximum
of 50 people in attendance, all of them friends or family.
It wasn’t a ticketed event, they were told, and wouldn’t be open to the general public.
Because they were expecting a small, privately-organised gathering, the Macedonian Association were
happy to rent out their space, and weren’t required to make any special safety arrangements,
or notify the local fire service.
Unfortunately, the Macedonian Association had been misinformed.
The event which would take place in their space that night wasn’t a quiet gathering,
but instead a Halloween dance party organised for high school students.
Flyers were posted across the city to advertise the event, which was open to anyone of around
high school age who was willing to pay the entrance fee.
The official capacity of the venue was 150.
That night at least 375 children and young adults turned up.
To make the venue ready for this crowd, the organisers had festooned the plaster walls
with paper decorations, and set up a small stage to accommodate a DJ and lighting rig.
To create some atmosphere they set up a rented smoke machine, and also covered some of the
lights with cardboard to dim them.
Any furniture that could be moved was piled up against the walls, or stowed in the fire
exit stairwell to leave as much space on the dancefloor as possible.
Despite this attempt to create more room, the venue ended up packed.
As night fell and more and more youths filtered in, some attendees complained that the crowd
was so tight that they could barely move around, let alone dance.
It was shortly before midnight when the DJ opened the door to the fire exit stairwell…
and was surprised to find that it was full of smoke – smoke which now rolled into the
packed dance hall.
Reeling back, he jumped on stage, grabbed his microphone, and announced that there was
a fire in the building, and that people should start evacuating.
Many of the attendees were confused.
Some could smell smoke… but assumed that it was either the smoke machine, someone sneaking
a cigarette in a corner somewhere, or one of the cardboard-covered lights overheating.
Even those who did decide to evacuate weren’t sure where to go.
Half of them surged towards the door they had entered by, while half moved in the other
direction, towards the fire exit… which was, unfortunately, blocked by smoke and flames.
Meanwhile, smoke was pouring into the room.
It was shortly followed by flames.
As the stage was consumed and lights began to explode, the crowd started moving with
a single purpose, flowing in a terrified mass towards the main entrance.
As young, panicking partygoers scrambled to escape, the narrow door quickly became congested.
As people lost their footing in the crush, the exit became packed with bodies, leaving
no means of escape.
The DJ, along with several partygoers, realised that they wouldn’t be able to get out through
either exit.
Desperate to get away from the billowing smoke, they broke windows and clambered out through
them, dropping to the ground below.
Although only one floor up, this was a difficult feat.
The building had originally been a factory, and so the window that existed were high up
and narrow.
To escape through one, the young partygoers would have had to climb around two metres
(or six-and-a-half feet) to reach the window, force it open, then roll sideways through
the gap.
If they managed that they would still have to brace themselves for a fall of five metres
(or sixteen-and-a-half feet) to the concrete below.
Almost everyone who braved this escape route suffered an injury of some kind, but dozens
were able to escape through the windows with their lives.
Police and firefighters were quickly on scene, but faced a multitude of difficulties.
The young people who had escaped were crowded around the venue, blocking access.
Those who had jumped from the windows were lying injured in front of the building, and
had to be moved before vehicles could be brought alongside.
Firefighters who entered the stairwell had to drag out a tangle of dead and injured people
before they could proceed further.
On finally reaching the top of the stairwell, they found the door completely blocked by
people trying to escape…
with more scrambling into the gap every time they removed one.
As they worked at this desperate task, firefighters noted that they felt people grabbing blindly
for them – in some cases almost pulling off their protective masks.
Even once the rescue operation was well underway, there were issues with crowd control.
Many of the injured were young, and had just experienced the most significant trauma of
their life.
Survivors had gathered in a crowd outside the building, and became frustrated with what
seemed to them like an agonisingly slow rescue operation.
Some tried to re-enter the building to help, blocking firefighters as they tried to exit.
Others, distraught by what they had experienced, turned on their rescuers.
One firefighter recalled being assaulted by a group of youths after explaining to them
that he could not help the friend they were carrying, because that friend was already
dead.
Because of the sheer number of injuries, there were barely enough ambulances to take the
injured to hospital.
Several young people were forced to ride in each emergency vehicle, monitored by a single
paramedic, and taking it in turns to breathe using just one or two available oxygen masks.
Taxi drivers and local bus drivers volunteered their services to transport the walking wounded.
Despite all these difficulties, rescuers made a real and significant difference, helping
at least 70 people out of the building, and treating hundreds for their injuries.
In total, however, 63 young people died in this disaster, and a further 213 were injured.
An investigation was launched, and it was quickly discovered that the cause of the fire
was arson.
Someone had deliberately set fire to a chair in the fire exit stairwell.
The flames had fed on the other furniture piled up there, filling the entire stairwell
with smoke.
When the door to the main hall had been opened, fresh oxygen had fed the flames and funnelled
them up into the main part of the venue, causing a catastrophic loss of life.
But who would have done something like this, and why?
Thousands of people were questioned and a huge reward offered for information…
before finally, two years later, the police were able to make a series of arrests.
The perpetrators were four youths who had been in attendance at the event, the youngest
of whom was just 17 years old at the time.
They admitted that they had been unhappy because they had been made to pay the entrance fee
even though they were friends with the organisers… and had conspired to get revenge for this
perceived humiliation by starting a small fire in the fire exit stairwell.
Their aim had been to destroy some furniture, trigger an evacuation, and put a premature
end to the evening.
Instead they had all but gutted the building, ended dozens of innocent lives, and killed
several of their own friends – all because of a moment of youthful frustration over having
to pay around 50 Swedish krona (or five dollars) to attend a party.
The four were tried and found guilty of aggravated arson, receiving sentences which ranged from
three to eight years in prison or juvenile detention each.
Though considered by some to be light, these sentences were close to the maximum allowed
in Swedish law for offenders of their age.
In 2008, a decade after the fire, a permanent memorial bearing the names of those who died
was put into place close to the site of the disaster.
The building was repaired and refurbished, and continues to be used by other businesses
to this day.
The families of those who died in the fire, after laying the dead to rest, formed a non-profit
organisation which has raised funds and offered support to those affected by other large-scale
disasters.
They also provide education for young people in Sweden – teaching them just how unpredictable
and dangerous fires can be, and what terrible consequences can arise from the decision to
intentionally set one.