Stardust survivor tells inquests of 'life-changing' burn injuries

A survivor of the Stardust fire, who would spend 15 weeks in hospital with "catastrophic" injuries, has said the people in the club that night were "trapped in an inferno".

Jimmy Fitzpatrick was giving evidence at the inquests into the 48 people who died in the nightclub blaze in the early hours of St Valentines Day 1981.

He suffered severe burn injuries, described in court today as ‘"life changing".

The Dublin District Coroner’s Court also heard how Mr Fitzpatrick had been in the company of a number of people who died that night including his Superquinn work colleagues David Morton, 19, Martina Keegan 16, Michael Griffiths, 17 and George O’Connor, 17.

In an emotional testimony, he also remembered the late Liam Dunne who had been in a bed beside him in the intensive care unit in hospital.

He recalled how at one point Mr Dunne said to him: "We’ve made it his far we’re going to get out of this."

Mr Dunne would later die from his injuries at the age of 18.

At this stage, he said the smoke was thick and black: "You could chew it, it was that thick."

Earlier, Mr Fitzpatrick, who was 16 at the time of the fire, told the inquests that the flames had "shot up" as soon as a bouncer had lifted the shutter which was partitioning off the west alcove on the night.

He said it was an inferno "within seconds" and that the smoke had started to billow.

The court heard how he then ran towards the main entrance to escape but turned back to help two girls that he knew.

Mr Fitzpatrick said they were screaming and panicking and were "almost frozen to the spot".

He grabbed the two girls and "threw" them into the main passageway.

He then fell over a handbag and began crawling on the floor, unsure of where he was going.

At this stage, he said the smoke was thick and black: "You could chew it, it was that thick."

He said it was like he was being suffocated, as if "someone was putting their hands over your nose and mouth".

He also said that there were small balls of flames dripping from the ceiling. "It was raining fire," he said.

Mr Fitzpatrick told how he was being trampled on in the total darkness and he thought to himself: "I’m not going to make this."

He said he could feel himself getting burned on his shoulder and back.

Door opened with the 'grace of God'

The court was told how he then heard people screaming and kicking at a door. He joined in, not knowing where that door led to.

He said it was with the "grace of God" that it then opened. He said it was around 50 seconds before the door opened.

He estimated that from the time of first seeing the fire to the time he got out, around two-and-a-half minutes had elapsed.

He later added that this felt like a "lifetime".

He told the court how another man helped him into ambulance outside.

Mr Fitzpatrick was told at first by a paramedic that the ambulance was full. However, the man helping him put him into the front passenger seat and said: "Now you're f***ing full," before being taken to the Mater Hospital.

He was asked if he had any difficulty getting into the Stardust on the night. He said he had not.

"Once you had a tie on and three pounds, you would get in the doors," he said.

"We were all choking. The room was filling with smoke, we were breathing through our clothes."

Later, the inquests heard how a then-teenager was choking on the smoke, trapped in the ladies' toilets before a fireman rescued him.

Peter O’Shaughnessy was 17 years old at the time.

He described ending up in the toilets with two girls and how the smoke started to fill the room.

He told the court how he was banging on the steel plates that were covering the windows and said he could hear people outside shouting that they were trying to get them out.

"We were all choking," he said."The room was filling with smoke, we were breathing through our clothes."

Replying to questions from Gráinne Larkin, counsel for Dublin Fire Brigade, he recalled how a fireman then came into the toilets, picked up a girl and told Mr O’Shaughnessy to hold onto his belt and then led him to safety.

Ciarán Graydon, who was 18 years old the time, told the inquests he went back into the burning building on two separate occasions and pulled people out.

He had initially made his escape through exit five.

He said he could hearing people banging and kicking on it and that after around 45 seconds, he "fell out" of the doors.

The court heard how he went back in twice and pulled out a woman and a man.

'Mind your own effing business'

The inquests also heard that around three weeks before the fatal fire, a bouncer told a patron "to mind his own effing business", after he raised concerns about a padlocked door.

In evidence today, Jimmy Tarpey said he was at ‘The Specials’ concert which was held in the club in January 1981.

He said there was an "extremely large" crowd there that night.

He said he saw a padlock and chain on emergency exit 5 and asked a bouncer how would anyone get out if there was fire.

He said the doorman told him "to mind his own effing business" and that after that, Mr Tarpey, then 21 years old, left the club.

He said there was a chain looped around the two bars with a "big" padlock on the bottom.

He said he remembered it clearly. "I can still see it," he said.

Mr Tarpey told the court that when he was making his escape on the night of the fire he headed to that exit – exit 5, and said he "honestly thought" that the door would be locked. He said to himself that he was "going to die tonight".

The court was told the door then "suddenly burst open".