2007.12.17 EDA Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

The Station nightclub fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page -3 of going on both sides. And then on one side, I noticed it come over the top, and that's when I said, 'I have to leave.' And I turned around, I said, 'Get out, get out, get to the door, get to the door!' And people just stood there. There was a table in the way at the door, and I pulled that out just to get it out of the way so people could get out easier. And I never expected it take off as fast as it did. It just-- it was so fast. It had to be two minutes tops before the whole place was black smoke. Thousands of mourners attended a memorial service at St. Gregory the Great Church in Warwick on February 24, 2003, to remember those lost in the fire. Following the tragedy, Governor Donald Carcieri declared a moratorium on pyrotechnic displays at venues that hold fewer than 300 people. Currently, the site of the fire is an empty lot, with the exception of a - multitude of crosses, memorials left by loved ones of the dead. Y Great White continued to tour, saying a prayerer for the friends ds and families touched by that fateful night at the beginning of each concert. The band said they would never play the song "Desert Moon" live again. ` "I don't think I could ever sing that song again," said lead singer and V founder Jack Russell.[21 Guitarist, Mark Kendall stated, "We haven't Make-shift memorial at the played that song. Things that bring back memories of that night we try to location of the Station night stay away from. And that song reminds us of that night. We haven't club played it since then and probably never will." 3 The band also refuses to use pyrotechnics since the tragedy. It was the deadliest fire in the United States since the 1977 Southgate, Kentucky,Beverly Hills Supper Club fire that claimed 165 lives. The worst nightclub fire was November 28, 1942, in Boston at the Cocoanut Grove, where 492 died after paper decorations caught fire. The Rhythm Night Club Fire in Natchez, Mississippi, claimed the lives of approximately 209 persons during a dance in 1940. The Station fire exceeded the death toll of 87 in the March 25, 1990, Happyland Fire in the Bronx, New York City. Investigation Investigators focused on the foam material which had been installed behind the stage. The foam was of a kind intended for use in packaging and product display and not for sound-treating buildings, and would not have been treated 1 with fire-retardant materials used in acoustic foam. Witnesses to the fire have reported that once ignited, flames spread across the foam at approximately , one foot per second. Through attorneys, club owners said they did not give permission to the band to use pyrotechnics. Band members have claimed they had permission. Biechele at the time of In the early days after the fire, there was considerable effort to assign and his booking, December 9, http://en.wikipedia.org/wikUStation—fire 10/26/2007