Fires At The Sheffield Ski Village

by James Peters


Once described as the largest artificial ski resort in Europe, the Sheffield Ski Village was destroyed last week by a violent fire.

30 firefighters were rushed to Vale Road, Parkwood Springs in the early hours of Sunday 29th April when they received word that the Ski Village was ablaze.

The firefighters had to tackle the fire from the outside as the flames were so vicious. It took around three hours to control the 40 foot flames using 3,000 litres of water pumped from the River Don.

One eyewitness from the city centre said: "By midnight it was an inferno. I could see the flames, they were pretty high but i didn't ring the fire service because i thought someone else would have already done it."

"Its just a mess. It looks terrible. I hardly ever went to the Ski Village but it was a nice place" said one Sheffield onlooker.

While police were investigating the cause of the original blaze, a second fire broke out at the Ski Village 48 hours later. An investigation into the cause of the second fire ruled it had been started deliberately.

The General Manager of the Ski Village, Vicky Lloyd, is said to be 'gutted' by the destruction of the popular Sheffield attraction.

"The business has been running very well recently. For us this is a very difficult time."

The attraction, which opened in 1988, was said to bring over 180,000 visitors per year at the height of its popularity.