Its on CNN now, A nightclub in Rhode Island burnt down after some complications from Pyro when they had a band play. Their saying 10-20 People died, and alot more are Injured. :(

i live kinda near it... It's all that's been on local TV....it's so sad...

That's terrible. How strange to have two nightclub tragedies in the same week. In Chicago earlier this week, twenty-one people were trampled to death after pepper spray was used to break up a fight. The people panicked and rushed the doors.

That's so sad. I feel terrible for those people and their families.:(

I just heard about it too. Janice is right! It's sad to hear two such tragedies like this. :(

I still remember the sad Happy Land Fire disaster in NY a couple of years ago. :(

I agree this is very sad:(

Yah, it was on lastnite. Lasy I heard it was 38 dead.

MSNBC just reported it to have gone up to at least 54 deaths.

That's so sad, there are so many of these happening now. There was another bombing in an Indonesian nightclub a bit back.

It is a very sad thing... I have a cousin in Rhode Island and she and her best friend was injured...She IMed me this morning and told me her friend was in critical condition..

I mean she wasn't injured but her friend was...

Chad actully told me this earlier this morning. It is pretty sad indeed. I only live about 2-2 1/2 hours from where it happened.

Ty Longley, Great White's lead guitar player, is missing as well. This is really sad that this happened. They had gotten it okayed to do the canisters before hand, but something behind the band got a spark in it.

My heart goes out to all the friends and family members of people who were involved in this tragedy. The recovery will take a long time for those who were burned, but with the support of their friends and family they can get through it.

My mother received 2nd and 3rd degree burns on her legs years ago. She was in the hospital for several months and had to relearn to walk, but she is fine now.

Anyway...I'm rambling again.

D

This is at yahoo news:


"By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press Writer

WEST WARWICK, R.I. - A nightclub erupted in a raging fire during a rock band's pyrotechnics display, killing at least 85 people and injuring more than 160 others as frantic mobs rushed to escape. Club officials said Friday the special effects were used without permission.
The death toll rose as firefighters searched through the charred shell of the single-story wood building. Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said the number of dead had reached 85 by Friday afternoon.

"They are still pulling bodies out," Gov. Don Carcieri said after rushing back to the state from a Florida vacation. "This building went up fast — nobody had a chance."

The fire came less than a week after 21 people were killed in a stampede at a Chicago nightspot.

The '80s hard rock band Great White had just started playing Thursday night when giant pyrotechnic sparklers on stage began shooting up and ignited the ceiling above them and soundproofing near the stage. Some in the crowd said they thought it was part of the act, but the fire quickly spread through the low-ceilinged building, filling it with thick, black smoke.

The entire club was engulfed in flames within three minutes, Fire Chief Charles Hall said. Capacity at The Station Concert Club was 300, but Hall said fewer people than that were inside the building.

Robin Petrarca, 44, was standing within a few feet of a door, but said she couldn't see the exit because of the billowing smoke. In the rush to escape, she fell and was trampled, but made it out.

"There was nothing they could do, it went up so fast," she said.

Hall said the club recently passed a fire inspection, but didn't have a city permit for pyrotechnics. The building, which is at least 60 years old, was not required to have a sprinkler system because of its small size.

The pyrotechnics were used without permission from the club, said Kathleen Hagerty, a lawyer representing club owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian.

"No permission was ever requested by the band or its agents to use pyrotechnics at The Station, and no permission was ever given," she said.

The band's singer, Jack Russell, said the manager checked with the club before the show and the use of pyrotechnics was approved. And Paul Woolnough, president of Great White's management company, said tour manager Dan Biechele "always checks" with club officials before pyrotechnics are used.

"I'm not going to reply to those allegations, but I do know that the club would have been informed, as they always are," Woolnough said. Biechele could not immediately be located for comment.

The owner of a well-known New Jersey nightclub said Great White failed to tell him they were using pyrotechnics for a concert there a week ago.

"Our stage manager didn't even know it until it was done," said Domenic Santana, owner of the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. "My sound man freaked out because of the heat and everything, and they jeopardized the health and the safety of our patrons."

Most of the bodies were found near The Station's front exit, some of them burned and others dead from smoke inhalation. Hall also said some appeared to have been trampled in the rush to escape.

"They tried to go out the same way they came in. That was the problem," Hall said. "They didn't use the other three fire exits."

More than 160 people were taken to area hospitals, Bauer said. Many were taken to Rhode Island Hospital and 38 remained there Friday, 14 of them in critical condition with severe burns and suffering from smoke inhalation.

The ages of the victims ranged from the teens to the late 30s.

"As much as we can prepare for anything like this the stark reality is hard to imagine," said Dr. Joseph Amaral, a surgeon and the hospital's president. "One of the most remarkable things for me is the degree of inhalation injuries that everyone sustained."

The blaze broke out at about 11 p.m. during the first song at the concert in West Warwick, about 15 miles southwest of Providence.

"All of a sudden I felt a lot of heat," said Russell, the band's singer. "I see the foam's on fire. ... The next thing you know the whole place is in flames."

He said he started dousing the fire with a water bottle but couldn't put it out, then all the lights went out.

"I just couldn't believe how fast it went up," he said. Russell said one of his band members, guitarist Ty Longley, was among the missing.

Firefighters worked through the morning Friday to pull charred bodies from the building as onlookers watched, worried about missing friends.

"They were completely burned. They had pieces of flesh falling off them," said Michelle Craine, who was waiting to hear about a friend who was missing. "It was the worst thing I've ever seen."

Nearly 200 people gathered at a family center set up at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick by the American Red Cross (news - web sites) of Rhode Island. Grief counselors and clergy members were on hand.

Witnesses described seeing dozens of people dash toward for the door after the fire began, and some of those who escaped were later seen staggering into a triage center. Rescuers pulled badly injured victims from the fire as ladder trucks poured water over the flaming skeleton of the building.

"It was calm at first, everyone thought it was part of the act," said John DiMeo, who was sitting at the bar near the front door when the fire started. "It happened so fast."

Brian Butler was filming the concert for WPRI-TV and saw the flames spread across the ceiling and people rush for the doors.

"People were trying to help others and people were smashing out windows, and people were pulling on people and nobody cared how many cuts they got, nobody cared about the bruises or the burns," Butler said. "They just wanted out of the building."

The club had passed a fire code compliance inspection Dec. 31 to get its liquor license renewed, Hall said. He said sprinklers were not required because of the building's size, but a license would have been required for the pyrotechnic display.

Great White is a heavy metal band whose hits include "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "Rock Me." The band emerged in the Los Angeles metal scene of the late 1980s, selling 6 million albums and earning a Grammy nomination in 1990.

They continued to tour and make albums in recent years, maintaining a strong allegiance of fans from their glory days of the 1980s.

It was the second tragedy at a U.S. club in four days. Early Monday, 21 people were killed and more than 50 were injured in the Chicago melee, which began after a security guard used pepper spray to break up a fight.

The worst nightclub fire in the United States was Nov. 28, 1942, when 491 people died at Boston's Cocoanut Grove nightclub."

Wow, that's just horrible! My heart and prayers go out to the victims and their loved ones.

yah I live like 45 mins away, but all of my cousins and relitives live 10 mins from where it happened:(:(:(....such an awful thing:(:(:(

my aunt just found out some of her friends were in there...but hasnt heard anything else left. I live 10 mins away....its so scary when something like this hits close to home.

That's a terrible shame, especially right on the heels of the Chicago disaster.

Originally posted by Georgia's on my Mind
my aunt just found out some of her friends were in there...but hasnt heard anything else left. I live 10 mins away....its so scary when something like this hits close to home.


I am so sorry:(:( your aunts friends have my prayers:( and I hope my family is alright!

:( tha'ts aweful

I heard it on the radio this morning and now 39 ppl died mant are injured and one ofg the band members are missing its so sad to hear about it.

The death toll has now reached 95, but only a handful of people found dead have been identified. I think there will be more found dead. This is crazy...I think the club should have had more safety precautions like water sprinklers and fire extinguishers on the stage...that might have saved alotta lives.

Originally posted by Swimfan85



I am so sorry:(:( your aunts friends have my prayers:( and I hope my family is alright!

I hope my aunt hears something soon... I will pray for your family also, i hope they are safe!..it is so terrible...agh

I'm watching it on NBC Nightly News now. It's horrible, it's so sad. :crying:

I Heard about this lastnight I pray for the families of the missing still and or hurt

Originally posted by Janice
That's terrible. How strange to have two nightclub tragedies in the same week. In Chicago earlier this week, twenty-one people were trampled to death after pepper spray was used to break up a fight. The people panicked and rushed the doors.

Yay! Someone acknowledges Chicago!!!! Yea that was really sad...the back doors were locked, so that made it even worse...

Originally posted by Georgia's on my Mind
my aunt just found out some of her friends were in there...but hasnt heard anything else left. I live 10 mins away....its so scary when something like this hits close to home.
I really hope everything turns out okay for your aunt's friends. This is the the saddest tragedy.

Not to sound morbid, but I'm wondering which band member died. They showed his photo on the news but I can't match it up to anyone playing on the stage when the fire broke out.
I have a feeling it's the guy on the left with the curly hair.
Does anyone know?

I heard about that. Its so sad :(

It is sad, btu I really want to say that (not be mean and cruel) but that band was so stupid!!! Why for love of all that is wicked on this earth would they do something they weren't asked without permission??? I don't know wether or not it was an honest mistake, but that incident coulda have been avoidable.

Originally posted by Janice
Not to sound morbid, but I'm wondering which band member died. They showed his photo on the news but I can't match it up to anyone playing on the stage when the fire broke out.
I have a feeling it's the guy on the left with the curly hair.
Does anyone know?

Guitarist Ty Longley is the one missing

Originally posted by Crimson_and_Clover

Guitarist Ty Longley is the one missing
Thanks Crimson. What I'm wondering is when they show the footage of Great White playing just before and when the fire breaks out...which one is Ty Longley?
I live in Massachusetts which, along with Rhode Island, makes up part of New England. I don't know if the tragedy is getting the coverage across the nation that it's getting here in New England.
It's on around the clock here and that footage is shown constantly. I keep looking and wondering which one of the band members is Ty.

As you may know, Ty Longley has been declared dead. Do you
think Great White was responsible for the fire and do you think
the surviving members should face criminal prosecution?

Originally posted by gbscott1954
As you may know, Ty Longley has been declared dead. Do you
think Great White was responsible for the fire and do you think
the surviving members should face criminal prosecution?
Much remains to be seen as the case unfolds. Right now, there's a lot finger pointing going on.
The owners of The Station insist the band wasn't granted permission to use pyro.
Great White says they were given verbal permission to use it.
Other club owners have stepped forward to say that Great White used pyro without permission in their clubs during performances.
Other bands have stepped forward to say that they used pyro at The Station in the past.
The club was inspected in December, and the inspector is being criticized for allowing the foam that caught fire so fast. It was too flammable to be in the club.
It's going to be lawsuit city. To me, it sounds like there's enough blame to go around. Several factors led to the tragedy.

Yeah, the count of people who died is now over 100. This is awful:(