The stardust disco fire, Dublin 1981: studies of combustion products during simulation experiments

Abstract A serious fire in the Stardust Club, Dublin, on 14 February 1981, resulted in 48 deaths and injury to over 200 persons, and occurred at a time when over 900 persons, mostly young, were present. This report describes experiments carried out by the Fire Research Station to study the release and significance of combustion products and forms part of a much larger series of tests carried out for the Tribunal of Inquiry. The fire experiments include studies of the burning of seat-table units and carpet wall tiles in a special room-corridor test rig and a full-scale simulation experiment of part of the west alcove where the fire was first seen. Measurements are given of concentrations of oxygen and the oxides of carbon together with estimates of hydrogen chloride and hydrogen cyanide. Additionally, samples were taken for gas chromatographic and mass spectrometric studies for general chemical fingerprinting of the fire atmosphere. The work shows that the growth of fire may have been very rapid indeed and may have involved a mechanism with special interactions between the seating and wall coverings. Only a few minutes may have been available from the start of the five to the development of dangerous conditions in the dance hall.