Woolworth's retail store, Manchester, May 1979 - Cooke On Fire

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Woolworth’s – the fire‣ Women could be seen behind barred windows on thesecond floor and people in an office there were rescued bythe fire brigade who had to cut the bars and help them downthe ladders.‣ 27 people were rescued by the fire brigade, 6 led to safety,and some people were rescued from the roof.‣ The fire caused the loss of ten lives primarily by inhalationof smoke and toxic gases.‣ Eye witnesses reported very rapid growth of fire and largeamounts of thick, choking smoke. There were fourindependent escape routes – three staircases and a centralescalator. Victims were found very close to, but not in, theprotected escape routes.‣ Reasons for the rapid spread of fire in single and multipleitems of plastic-upholstered furniture were investigated byBRE Fire Research Station to determine ease of ignitionand rate of heat release.
Woolworth’s – BRE heat release tests‣ After small scale tests, a 5 m x 12 m by 3 m high testcompartment with one end open for ventilation wasconstructed and instrumented by BRE to investigate fire in astacked furniture arrangement which was representative ofthe conditions in the store.‣ The test furniture included timber-based based dressing units,wardrobes, kitchen chairs, and polyurethane foamupholstered settees and mattresses, all in their packagingmaterials as in the store.‣ Mass loss was measured using a 2.5 m square load cellplatform.‣ The calculated heat output at 2.5 minutes reached a peak of23MW.
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Woolworth's retail store, Manchester, May 1979 - Cooke On Fire

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