Arsonists strike at illegal rave

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Arsonists strike at illegal rave

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December 6, 2001 at 12:10 pm

#686317
[deleted]

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Monday, 3 December, 2001, 15:08 GMT

Police in Manchester are appealing for witnesses after an arson attack on a warehouse being used for an illegal rave.
The ravers were enjoying an-night event on the ground floor of Hanover Mills, Ardwick, Manchester, when a fire broke out on the sixth floor just after 0530 GMT on Sunday.

Officers from Greater Manchester Police had been made aware of the rave at 0300 GMT, but chose to allow it to continue to avoid the risk of public disorder.

Most party-goers had left the former textile mill safely by the time crews from Greater Manchester Fire Service arrived.

Evidence of arson

The fire had spread from the sixth floor to the floors above and below.

More than 100 firefighters attended.

There were no serious casualties.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester police said: “You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t in these situations.

“We were made aware of an illegal rave at around 0300 GMT and our officers went to assess the situation.

“They assessed it as a low risk and formed the opinion that it would be wiser to let it go ahead rather than risk public disorder if they tried to break it up.”

Detectives said on Monday they had found evidence that a number of fires had been deliberately started on different floors of the building.
December 23, 2004 at 2:57 pm

#848299
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NRGboy

@nrgboy

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Does anybody know if the organisers were held responsible for the fire?
It’s always worried me that something like this could happen at our parties.
December 23, 2004 at 3:54 pm

#848296
6

General Lighting

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I’ve had a quick search on the usual media and cop sources and can’t find any follow up to this; would expect it was recorded as arson and just remains as an “unsolved crime”, although it will mean that GMP and GMFRS use it as another reason to say “why raves should not happen.” 🙁

it always annoys me to see decent buildings like this burned or trashed (I like urban exploration as well as raving!) ; we’ve lost a few in the south this way before they’ve even had a chance to be partied (or for that matter used as residential squats/communal creative spaces)

You cannot of course prevent people having matches and lighters, but to minimise this risk a building should be thoroughly searched before the event starts; any potential fuel (such as wood, piles of paper) or accelerants (stuff like petrol, paraffin, other flammable solvents or paints/varnishes containing them) should be removed and stored in a safe area, away from those with bad intent.

It’s amazing what people leave behind in places… Some of this stuff is also useful for making décor, backdrops etc, be careful though of hazardous materials…

During the event have responsible crew people patrol the place randomly (you don’t have to act like cops and bouncers, just a friendly wander around whilst checking the surroundings…) look out for problems such as fires or floods (there is a nasty trend in my area of people destroying the plumbing infrastructure of buildings 😡 )

And have some sort of plan if anything major happens; you may need to clear people out of a space quickly..
December 23, 2004 at 4:04 pm

#848300
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NRGboy

@nrgboy

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Cheers for the advice, we always do check potential hazards and dangers, usually taping these areas off. And we keep a regular check on the buildings that we use and there safety thoughout the night, but if something did go wrong and we had to call the fire brigade or god forbid an ambulance, would we be held responsible, as the organisers of the event??
December 23, 2004 at 5:05 pm

#848297
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

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NRGboy wrote:

Cheers for the advice, we always do check potential hazards and dangers, usually taping these areas off. And we keep a regular check on the buildings that we use and there safety thoughout the night, but if something did go wrong and we had to call the fire brigade or god forbid an ambulance, would we be held responsible, as the organisers of the event??NB: This is anecdotal evidence from experience at events, not professional legal advice!

To do this, I would expect the cops and CPS would need to find sufficient legal proof whoever made the 999/112 call was actively involved in organising the event – it could just as easily be a concerned bystander who witnessed the incident. Even a location trace on a mobile would normally show that the call was made from someone in the vicinity, rather than actually in the party venue.

at the last party in my city someone cut themselves on glass and Ambulance was called. Paramedics did want to attend with cops as escort (standard procedure), but as the casualty was walking wounded he was escorted to the Ambulance and handed over at the gate.

After he was patched up at hospital, the same Ambulance later returned him to the rave! AFAIK no action was taken against the person who called 999.

TBH I don’t think the cops would want to take this action, unless the other blue light services were coming under attack whilst dealing with the casualty. (this is their main worry when dealing with a situation at a rave).

just because someone may be at an unlicensed event, it does not mean they forfeit their right to assistance of the Emergency Services if something unfortunate happens. OTOH, every time they are deployed there gives them another reason to clamp down, unlike licensed events we are not (other than via personal taxation) contributing to their costs, and they will always argue the incident would not have happened if there wasn’t a rave there..

However, if a fire occured due to negligence of the organisers (such as overloading an electric power circuit which caused the wiring to overheat), or an injury happened due to a turf war or politics between crews (perhaps something that had been previously stirred up on a message board or in a licesned venue?) then action could possibly be taken against them.
December 24, 2004 at 12:42 pm

#848298
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General Lighting

@general-lighting

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just been reading a news article on binge drinking – in which it mentions that many NHS paramedics now also have Airwave (police radio) equipment and have a direct link to the Old Bill, which is used whenever they are dealing with people who “may have taken drugs”.

NHS is updating the Ambulance C3 (command, control, comms integration) systems anyway so this extra integration is fairly trivial (and TBH isn’t that sinister when you consider situations such as RTCs where traffic cops need to communicate quickly with other services)

but this means that those who get involved in incidents which lead to ambulances turning up are putting an event at increased risk of being closed down..
February 17, 2005 at 10:38 am

#848302
1

Club-Med

@club-med

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There are health and safety laws in relation to ambulance,medical and welfare services at events. Failure to comply and serious incident happening WILL raise questions and an investigation will be started by the HSE & the police.

The General was right with his last post re ambulance control will request police support before attending any passed as an illegal rave. Sometime we are told to rendevous with the police which can take up time, when seconds are vital.

Some Ambulance services (not all) are entering a shared radio network, but this is not everywhere yet, we dont have the facilitie to have direct comms with the police in my county.

If any event requires paramedic/tech/first aid cover anywhere within the UK drop us a mail to: nightclubmedics@yahoo.co.uk or call 0783 567 4 999
February 18, 2005 at 1:47 pm

#848301
1

NRGboy

@nrgboy

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Thanks for the info, will come in usefull :o)
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