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1973: Fire moved 'quicker than I could walk'Thirty years ago the Summerland leisure resort on the Isle of Man went up in flames.
Up to 53 people died in the tragedy on 2 August 1973, and it is one of the worst British peacetime disasters involving a fire since 1929.
Sub-officer Les Quayle was in charge of the first fire engine to arrive at the scene.
We were on shift from 1800 BST to midnight that evening. We had very little information initially.
It came from two strange sources: one was a boat in the bay which radioed the harbourmaster and asked him to relay a message that he could see smoke behind Summerland.
The other source was a passing taxi who contacted his base.
We were about 2.5 miles [4 km] from the complex so we got there fairly fast.
When we rounded the corner onto the promenade we couldn't really see a great deal at all.
It wasn't until we were about a quarter of a mile from the building itself we realised the fire was inside.
We didn't have a clue it was going to be such a big fire.
There were hundreds and hundreds of people evacuating the building across a footbridge which spanned the top of the promenade and then spilling out into the road.
So we pulled past the building to a corner where we knew we could access the hotel and started work from there.
The fire literally grew before our very eyes.
The hotel was about 100 ft [30.5 m] high and about as long. The fire was developing so quickly - quicker than I could walk down the building.
Soon the flames were engulfing the whole thing from one end to another.
No fire alarm
It looked awesome. We thought, "What the hell are we going to do with this?"
So we made a token effort to get a water jet at work on the building and we got the rest of the crew inside, helping people get out.
I went straight off the road into a doorway which led me into the bottom level, which was below a massive concrete floor where the fire was.
No one really knew what was going on down there because the fire alarm wasn't going at that stage. We just had to move people to the exits and direct them away.
Once they saw what was going on above them, of course they soon scarpered.
Hundreds got out - they reckon there was close on 3,000 people in there, but the fire brigade can't claim responsibility for all of them because most of them got themselves out.
Some people were confused and lost and we literally dragged them out - a scruff of the neck job sometimes!
I found a guy on a mezzanine floor, half-way between the basement and the fire floor, drunk as a coot. He didn't know what the hell was going on and I literally had to pick him up and drag him.
Quite a few people were rescued unharmed. Sadly a lot were recovered dead and I had to help with some of the bodies.
I actually finished up in hospital myself during the fire. I was found wandering round on the promenade outside by a policeman and I was suffering from heat exhaustion.
Luckily no-one else from the fire service became a casualty.
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