Around 150 holidaymakers were evacuated from Brighstone Holiday Centre after a devastating fire raged through the West Wight site on 23rd August 1995.
Miraculously, only 2 elderly female pensioners required hospital treatment: a 70-year-old who suffered a suspected heart attack and a 73-year-old who fainted.
The remaining 146 campers were taken in a fleet of vehicles to Atherfield Bay Holiday Centre, where the ballroom was converted into an emergency reception centre.
The fire had begun in a ballroom at around 23:15, around half-an-hour after the evening entertainments had finished. Had it happened 30 minutes previously, the ballroom would have been packed.
The entertainment staff were looking forward to a party when they noticed the smell of smoke. 5 minutes later, there was a smoky haze in the serving area. Soon, the building was engulfed in flames.
After attempting to douse the flames with a faulty fire extinguisher, the staff ran out the ballroom, shut the door and set about waking the guests, some of whom were disabled and visually impaired. It was said to have taken a long time to lead the guests over a barbed wire fence to safety.
The first fire service appliance arrived on scene at 23:40 – 13 minutes after fire control had received the call. Appliances arrived from Newport, Freshwater, Yarmouth and Ventnor.
It took 3 hours for the baze to be brought under control. The swimming pool was pumped dry to provide sufficient water for the fire fighters. The ballroom, stage, backstage, coffee shop area, lounge, dining room and kitchen were all destroyed in the blaze.
The ballroom had been inspected 3 months previously for its public entertainment licence and passed its fire safety inspection. The cause of the blaze was an electrical fault which resulted in a backstage transformer exploding. 2 electric ceiling fans then blew the fire through the roof void. The intensity of the blaze was such that debis from Brighstone burned holes in the Chine Farm camping site a mile away.
This was the 3rd serious fire at Brighstone Holiday Centre since World War II. In the late 40s, the wooden staff recreation building went up in flames. In the late 70s, the roof of the indoor swimming pool was destroyed by fire.
Brighstone Holiday Centre opened in 1931. It was the first holiday camp on the Isle of Wight and pre-dated the Butlins empire.
The centre was used as a billet for troops during World War II. When holidays abroad became popular, it specialised in attracting the elderly.
The centre was always proud of its hi-De-Hi roots with campers being awakened with “Wakey, wakey campers” and sent to bed with “Goodnight campers”.
Is that where those new holiday sheds have been slung up along milly road..the ones that look like Auschwitz but with a 500k price tag.
Been abandoned for last 2/3 years looks bloody awful ..run out of money me thinks..
I worked on them for a few weeks. The guy funding it was from London and he was clueless. I raised concerns about the structures themselves. I packed up and left site as it was a real cowboy site
Like most island businesses, run by John Wayne & Co.
Look at the Council, they cannot sort out parking or
speeding issues.
It use to be a great holiday site, now it is sitting there
with newly built homes, sadly doing nothing, such a
shame.
Ideal migrant camp