1981, a nightclub in north Dublin is hosting a disco for Valentine's Day. Some time after
midnight, a fire breaks out in a room above. Unbeknownst to the 841 patrons below, the
fire rages into a blistering inferno. Soon enough, the fire falls down onto the
dancefloor, turning the club into a hell that the victims cannot escape from. For reasons
that have remained shrouded in controversy, they were locked in. From the cause, to the
aftermath, the Stardust fire is a story that's hard to believe - and families of the victims
are still fighting for answers to this day.
In 1948, a food factory is constructed in Artane, a northside suburb of Dublin, Ireland.
The owners of this factory, the Butterly family, converted the building into an amenity centre
in 1978. This consisted of a bar, a function room, and a nightclub, named the Stardust.
On the night of Friday the 13th, February 1981, the Stardust is hosting a Valentine's
eve disco. 841 young people attend the club, as the night of February 13th, gives way to
the early hours of the 14th. As the disco continues on the ground floor,
upstairs, a fire breaks out. Exactly how, is unknown. The space upstairs is home to
the lamp room, and the storage room, as well as a number of safety violations. For example,
these two rooms were not separated by a block wall, as is required under fire safety regulations.
The store room, was being used to store a large volume of highly flammable materials.
Drums of cooking oil were present, alongside large quantities of cleaning agents - aerosols,
polishes and bleaches. With an abundance of fuel, it's no surprise the fire rapidly spread
through this room. At around half one in the morning, the fire
was visible from the roof of the building. Some in the area who saw this, reported it
to the fire brigade, although they were surprised there didn't seem to be an evacuated crowd
standing outside the burning building. That was because no one in the building yet
realised that a fire was raging just above their heads. Both patrons and staff were completely
oblivious to what onlookers outside were witnessing. But not for long.
An alcove to the west of the dance floor, which housed seating, was curtained off for
the night. It was here where the fire first made its appearance on the ground floor. As
materials burned and melted upstairs, a fireball had slipped through the ceiling and caught
on a chair in the alcove. Some had noticed the light emanating from
the alcove, which, when inspected, revealed a small fire burning on a single chair. A
cause for concern, but the flame appeared so small that staff would surely be able to
manage it. The DJ made an announcement, and asked all patrons to calmly make their way
to the exits.
Suddenly, a fire flashover engulfed the club. Fire spread wildly across every surface, and
the club's lights shut off, plunging the room into darkness, as thick black smoke filled
the air. The fire from the floor above was burning through the ceiling. While the materials
in the store room burned, fireballs, molten debris and toxic fumes fell down onto those
in the club. Desperate to escape the ferocious heat and
suffocation, and blinded by the smoke, the crowd enters into a panic, fleeing in all
directions. Some are caught up in the panic and trampled. As bad as the situation already
is, what happens next is shocking. As victims run to the fire exits, an unfortunate
few find that most of them have been obstructed. Fire exits are either blocked by tables and
chairs, or locked with chains and padlocks. This was supposedly done to stop people sneaking
into the club free of charge. In the bathrooms, patrons try to escape through
the windows. These, however, are barred from the outside by metal grilles. Responding firefighters
and onlookers desperately try to pull or break them off, as they watch people on the inside
pile up against the glass. Behind them, people are screaming and burning.
46 people are killed in the Stardust, the main causes of death being suffocation and
burning. 214 people are injured, some seriously. Two more later died of their injuries in hospital,
bringing the death toll to 48.
But sadly, the story isn't over yet. An investigation at the time ruled the fire had been caused
by arson. This put some level of blame on the victims, as it was assumed an unknown
patron had set the chair in the west alcove alight. The owners of the club, the Butterly's,
were therefore cleared of responsibility. Not only that, but they received around 600,000
pounds compensation for the alleged arson, a staggering amount compared to compensations
paid to the victims and their families. This caused outrage, and it soon became apparent
the investigation was very poorly executed. The evidence given in the inquiry was very
misleading - facts such as the store room containing large drums of cooking oil were
never mentioned, and the tribunal was informed the store room resided on the ground floor,
instead of above the nightclub. These are just some examples of the blatant mishandling
of the inquiry. Several years later, Irish folk singer Christy
Moore wrote a song about the Stardust Fire, entitled "They Never Came Home". The Butterly's
took exception to the lyrics of the song, and in 1985, it was banned as libellous. The
ban is still in effect to this day. It took years of victims' families campaigning
for justice, for the Irish government to finally acknowledge, in 2009, there was insufficient
evidence to support the theory of arson. The public record was corrected, and arson was
removed as the cause of the fire. Still, many families call for a revisiting
of the inquiry, given the original has been proven to be flawed. It's still unknown what
exactly caused the fire, and despite the many safety regulations breaches, no one has been
held accountable. Christy Moore got into more legal trouble for writing a song about the
incident than anyone ever did over the locked fire exits.
It is now 40 years since the Stardust fire, and despite a 2019 announcement of a new inquest,
we still have no answers. Perhaps the sad truth is, no answer can give meaning to the
senseless loss of the lives last spent in the furnace of the Stardust. The one thing
we can hope for, is closure and peace of mind, for the families of the victims, and the survivors.
For those who have relived the burning nightmare every day for 40 years, it's well past time
the fire was put out.