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In Living Memory

Factual: History

In Living Memory: Series 13

In Living Memory: Series 13: Episode 4

Episode 4

Series 13

BBC Radio 4 - In Living Memory, Series 13, Episode 4

First-hand accounts of the Woolworths fire in Manchester in May '79 that killed ten people

In May 1979, ten people died when a fire broke out in the Woolworth's store in the centre of Manchester. Chris Ledgard talks to those who remember that day.

In May 1979, 10 people died when a fire broke out in the furniture department of the Woolworth's store in the centre of Manchester. Within minutes of the first flames being seen, the building was engulfed in toxic, black smoke. Most of those that died were in the restaurant on the second floor but the smoke was so thick, they couldn't find their way to the exits. 
It was later shown that it was the type of foam used to fill the budget furniture on sale that was to blame. 
Fire Officer Bob Graham, who led the investigation into the fire, remembers how, for a decade before the fire, he and his colleagues had watched the numbers of deaths in domestic fires in the Manchester area rocket. They knew the new styles of cheap furniture were to blame. Armed with evidence from the Woolworth fire, it would take Bob Graham and other campaigners a further ten years to persuade the government to change the law and 
oblige furniture makers to use flame-resistant foam. 
The Manchester Coroner, Leonard Gorodkin, led the inquest into the deaths. He explains why he was not convinced by a forensic expert's elaborate theory that faulty wiring behind a stack of furniture was responsible for the fire. The fire officers believed a naked flame was to blame but at the inquest no cause was given. 
Veteran BBC cameraman Ken Ward remembers capturing the iconic pictures of the disaster - women trapped behind bars in offices on the second floor of the shop. 
The programme mixes the first hand accounts of the people caught up in the events with archive of BBC news reports from the scene to re-create a terrible day in Manchester's history - one that would eventually lead to a change in the law that would save thousands of lives in the future.

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