A fire expert has told the Stardust inquests that he does not believe any of the 48 deaths might have been avoided if different actions were taken by the emergency services on the night of the fatal fire.
Mark Ross, who was a member of the London Fire Brigade for over 25 years, also said that the fire was probably "at or past its peak" when the first Dublin Fire Brigade crew arrived on the scene and that it was "likely" that those who died at the scene were already dead before the firefighters got there.
He was giving evidence today at the Dublin District Coroner’s Court at the fresh inquests into the deaths of the 48 people who were killed in the 14 February fire, 43 years ago.
The 13-person jury also heard that that planning approval to convert the premises into the nightclub in the late 1970s was turned down three separate times by Dublin Corporation before approval was given.
Martin Davidson, a fire engineer with nearly 30 years’ experience, told the court that of 26 by-laws that were relevant to the building and running of the premises, 16 were found to have not been complied with.
These included rules around the locking of fire exits while people were inside, the holding of fire training and the materials used inside the club.
First 999 call
Earlier, the court heard that the first 999 call reporting the fire was received at 1.43am at Tara St HQ, and that two appliances were immediately mobilised.
The jury was told that first crew arrived on the scene in Artane at 1.50am with five appliances following in the minutes after.
Mr Ross told the court that the fire was "probably at or past its peak" when the first fire crew arrived as at that stage it was venting out of the roof.
He said the scene on arrival facing the crews would have been "chaotic".
Pointing to the number of patrons present, he said they would have been "desperate for help" and in a state of panic.
'Significant incident'
He said the fire brigade would have been relying heavily on gardaí to assist in crowd control.
He also said there were reports of people being held back, being prevented from re-entering the building.
He said when the fire brigade first arrived, the firefighters would have known that it they were dealing with something "major" and a "significant incident".
The jury heard that within minutes, hoses were deployed at the exits of the building and that the brigade had "good coverage of the building" with the appliances "well placed" to deal with the incident.
Mr Ross also told the court that there was a deployment of firemen on approach to the club to the link up to hydrants. He described that as a "shrewd move".
He also said the brigade on arrival were faced with a need to quickly deploy firefighters to carry out rescues and went on to detail the rescues that were conducted from the club’s toilets.
He said it would appear that at an early stage, the fire brigade was unaware that there were people in the north alcove seating area.
He said eight victims were recovered from that area and that no rescues were affected from there.
He also said that 23 minutes after the arrival of the first crew, the officer in charge ordered a methodical search be carried out of the premises, saying at that point they probably thought they rescued all the live casualties, and it was time to consider there might not be anyone else alive.
The inquests continue
