The 1979 Woolworths Fire | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

On the 8th of May, 1979, a taxi driver in Manchester, England, radioed his dispatcher to say that he could see smoke billowing from a Woolworths supermarket in the middle of the city. This information was quickly passed onto the fire brigade, who sped to the scene, arriving in just under two minutes. Despite this lightning-fast response, the fire that followed would be one of the deadliest that Manchester had seen since the end of World War II, and would go down in history as a terrible and unnecessary waste of human life.

00:00 - Intro
00:45 - Background
02:30 - The 1979 Fire
07:18 - The Aftermath

I tell the true stories behind some of history's greatest disasters... but without sensationalism or disturbing imagery. Fascinating Horror is all about in-depth research, respectful storytelling, and learning what we can from the mistakes of the past. You might be surprised to discover just how much of today's world is shaped by long-forgotten disasters from decades gone by.

Music: "Glass Pond" by Public Memory | "Underworld" by Myuu

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Sources:

"Fire!" by Paul Seaton, published in The Woolworths Museum. Link: https://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/19....

"'I'll Never Forget It': Manchester Remembers Tragic Woolworths Fire of 1979 That Claimed 10 Lives in Blaze" by Sarah Hodgson, published by Mancunian Matters, May 2013. Link: https://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/li....

"Inside the Manchester Woolworths Blaze - The Fire That Claimed Ten Lives - and Changed Britain" by Rob Williams, published by Manchester Evening News, May 2019. Link: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.....

"Woolworths Fire: "I Will Never Forget the Sight of Her. She Had Blonde Hair and it Was Black With Smoke" by Rob Williams, published by Manchester Evening News, May 2019. Link: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.....

"What Happened in The 1979 Manchester Woolworth Fire?" published by BBC News, December 2012. Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england....

"Nostalgia: Woolworths Fire in Colchester in 1973" by Matt Plummer, published by the Essex County Gazette Standard, August 2020. Link: https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/1....

"Woman Trapped by Bars in Woolworths Inferno" published by the Birmingham Daily Post, May 1979. Available via the British Newspaper Archive.