A local resident who saw flames coming from the roof of the Stardust in Dublin has said that those still inside the nightclub at the time did not know that a fire was blazing.
Michael O'Toole, who was 20 at the time, was giving evidence at the inquests into the deaths of 48 people in the disaster in the early hours of St Valentine’s Day, 1981.
He also outlined how a bouncer told him in the immediate aftermath of the fire that the club's emergency doors were padlocked at the time of blaze.
Mr O'Toole lived just 60 yards (55 metres) from the Stardust and was awoken by his father at 1.38am who told him the club was on fire.
Dublin District Coroner's Court heard how around one minute later he arrived on the scene and saw 12 foot (3.7 metre) flames coming from the roof.
"It was powering up," he said, later adding "I couldn’t believe people weren’t coming out".
He also said there was "extremely loud" crackling coming from the fire and that he could not believe the people inside could not hear it.
"There were lots of mini explosions going off," he added.
Mr O'Toole agreed with counsel Joe Brolly, who is representing families of the victims, that the people inside at the time were not aware that there was a fire blazing.
"Absolutely," he said.
"It was a horrible feeling," he told the court, adding that he knew it was going to be bad.
It was put to Mr O'Toole that the fire was continuing to take hold before any patrons made it outside.
"Absolutely," he said.
Pointing to an aerial photo of the venue, he said he first saw the flames on the area of the roof which was above the storeroom and lamp room, to the rear of the club.
"That is where I would be very confident that I saw the flames coming from first."
He added that the glow was like a "bonfire".
Mr O'Toole said around three minutes after he first arrived, he saw a succession of staff members coming out what was probably the kitchen door and described how more people started to exit from the adjoining Silver Swan bar.
"There was lots of staff coming out the front. A lot of white shirts. A few people started to rush out then."
He said he saw the manager of the premises, Eamon Butterly, and four or five other manager types in the area in front of the venue.
He said it quickly turned to "mayhem" as more people made their way from the burning building.
Mr O’Toole also said that bouncer Michael Kavanagh told him in the immediate aftermath of the blaze that the emergency doors in the nightclub were padlocked at the time of fire.
He recalled how in the hours after the blaze, Mr Kavanagh was drinking tea in the O’Toole’s kitchen when he said: ‘I’ll sue him for everything he’s got. They couldn’t get out. The doors were padlocked".
Asked who he thought the "him" was, he replied that it was Mr Butterly.
Mr O’Toole also told the court that Mr Kavanagh took a set of keys from his jacket pocket and held them in his fist as he was making the comments about the doors being locked.
The inquests heard how Mr O'Toole assumed they were the keys of the Stardust and described them as a "bundle of keys".
He said he has no doubt that Mr Kavanagh "didn’t think" the doors were locked at the time of the fire - "he knew they were".
The court was told how Mr O’Toole said that Mr Kavanagh told him in the hours after the fire that he was "ashamed to say he was a bouncer" at the Stardust and "we were told to keep the doors locked".
It also heard that Mr O’Toole told Mr Kavanagh at the time to "make sure you tell the police about the doors being locked, and he said he would".
The inquests have previously heard how Mr Kavanagh initially told gardaí in 1981, and appeared in the media, saying that he had opened the fire exits on the night, hours before the blaze.
Three days later, he retracted the statement and said that he had in fact not opened them.
Counsel Joe Brolly asked Mr O'Toole about how he felt when he learned that Mr Kavanagh had told RTÉ’s Today Tonight current affairs programme that he had opened the doors.
"Horrified, to be honest," he said. "Forty-eight people died and lies were being told."
He said he felt that "something bigger" was going on and he was not engaging in it.
Last September, during direct evidence, Mr Kavanagh told the inquests that he did not remember making the comments to Mr O'Toole on the night/early morning in question but said he was not challenging the fact that it was the truth.
The court also heard how Mr Kavanagh felt that he was being made a "scapegoat" at the time of the fire.
He said that he went to gardaí and retracted his original statement after he had a conversation with his father and sister and then made his "proper statement".
The inquests also heard today from Jean Hogan who was trapped in the gents’ toilets as she tried to escape the fire and the smoke.
The court was told how people were screaming they were going to die and were banging on the windows which were covered with steel plates.
She gave someone her high heels to help break through, she said.
Ms Hogan said she then lay down on the floor as she felt she had no energy left and remained there until a fireman rescued her.
She spent five days in hospital.
Her friend, Margaret Kiernan, who she was with on the night, did not escape.
She was aged 19 and was one of the 48 people who died.
The inquests continue next week.
