The Stardust inquests have heard more about the desperate attempts that were made to try help people who were trapped inside the nightclub as the fire swept through the building.
The proceedings at the Dublin District Coroner's Court continued today in front of Dr Myra Cullinane and a 13-person jury, and heard from a number of witnesses who were there on the night and escaped.
Paula Toner, who was 17-years-old at the time, described seeing black smoke and told the court today that the flames were moving so quickly.
"It was like a fire ball going across the ceiling,’ she said.
She also described her efforts to get out the main entrance door.
She told of how the lights went out, saying "it was horrible, it was just like a crush, no one could see", she said.
She said that people were falling and being helped up.
She said only one of the two main doors was open and that someone then kicked the other door out and they all then pushed forward and out.
Responding to questions from counsel, she said she was not directed out the exits by anyone, saying it was "every man for himself".
Ms Toner also described the scene when she made it outside. She said people were standing at the toilet windows and shouting to people inside to "put their hands out" and "to put their heads down the toilets",
She said "it was pandemonium" and then "everything just went quiet".
She said the silence went through everyone, the hands disappeared, and the shouting stopped. She said they knew what was happening inside.
In her 1981 garda statement which was read into the record today, she also described how somebody had tied ropes around the bars of the windows outside and tied the other end to a white van in an effort to get the bars off.
"The bars didn’t come off", she said.
The inquests also heard from Paul Fitzmaurice who was 16-years-old at the time of the fatal blaze.
He told the court that he had no difficulty getting into what was meant to be a disco for over 21s and said he was not asked for identification.
He had been in the company of sisters Mary and Martina Keegan and David Morton, all of whom died in blaze.
He recalled initially seeing flames and considered it a "small fire" and decided to leave. He said at that stage, there were still plenty of people inside.
He said when he got into the foyer leading to the main entrance doors, there were lots of people in there. He said the panic started when the lights went out shortly afterwards. He said a lot of people were screaming and said at that moment his worry was the crush and not the fire.
He told the court that the doors were closed and "no one could move anywhere".
To escape the crush, he said he went up the stairs and when he reached the landing he turned around and "saw flames coming from above". He said the flames were stronger than the ones he first saw in the west alcove.
He said he put his hand over his face to protect himself and then fell back down the stairs. He said the thick black smoke then began to fill the passageway where the people were, trying to get out.
He estimated that it took him around 6 minutes to get out from the time he first made it into the foyer. He suffered burns to his face and hands.
Outside, he said, the atmosphere was one of "shock and horror" at what was unfolding.
He also told the court that about three weeks before the fire, he was in the club and sitting in the West Alcove when he noticed it was very hot.
Earlier, Carmel Richardson who was 17, told the court that she first smelled smoke before seeing flames on the back row in the sectioned off area known as the west alcove.
The court heard how she then made her way out of the main entrance. She said she had "no difficulty" getting out.
Speaking as she became upset, she said she remembers people coming out the building with "smoke on their faces", and said it was then the realisation came that the situation was bad. She described an exit being flung open and there being a sense of urgency and panic.
She said "it felt ages" before the emergency services came on the scene.
The inquests also heard from William Basset who said he saw an exit door chained and padlocked in the adjoining Silver Swan bar six months before the deadly Stardust fire.
Today in court he described the chain as "substantial" and said it was wrapped around the door’s two panic bars. He said he thought to himself "no one is going through that door".
He also showed the court a replica model he made himself that showed how the chains were wrapped and locked.
The Dublin District Coroner’s Court also heard how Mr Basset passed on his concerns about the door in the days after and that Dublin Corporation was informed
The inquests into the deaths of the 48 people in the 1981 blaze continue.
