Firefighter describes horror scene at Dreamspace tragedy

Jan 31 2009 by Tom Wilkinson, The Journal

THE aftermath of an inflatable artwork flipping over and killing two people in a park looked like "a war scene", a firefighter told a jury yesterday.

The 50m by 50m Dreamspace sculpture broke free from its moorings in Chester-le-Street’s Riverside Park, County Durham, in July 2006, while a number of people were exploring its PVC structure inside.

Its 77-year-old creator Maurice Agis, of Kirton Gardens, Bethnal Green, East London, is on trial at Newcastle Crown Court, and denies two counts of manslaughter and a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Claire Furmedge, 38, from Chester-le-Street, and Elizabeth Collings, 68, from Seaham, County Durham, died after the inflatable flipped into the air and crashed down on the ground.

Peter McDermott, of County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, was called to the park after the accident, and took over control of the emergency services’ response. He told the court: "It was like a war scene. There were people lying around all over the place."

He said fire officers searched the sculpture for survivors, which by then had got snagged on a CCTV pole and deflated.

Firefighters cut through the PVC with knives, but no-one was found trapped inside.

The officer had issued a fire safety certificate the day before and during the inspection Mr McDermott was told that Dreamspace, then on a national tour, had taken off on a previous occasion.

Mr McDermott said he was told that staff would ask visitors to leave if the sculpture lifted off, but that they "had sort of enjoyed it and it was sometimes difficult to get the people to evacuate the structure".

St John Ambulance superintendent Keith Vickers was on duty in the park, and told the jury he saw the artist and a member of staff try to grab the huge sculpture after it lifted off the ground.Agis was lifted off the ground as he struggled with the inflatable, before he let go, the court heard.

The case was adjourned until Monday morning.