95 Dead, 180 Injured In Nightclub Inferno
Crowds Rush To Escape Raging Fire
POSTED: 6:25 am EST February 21, 2003
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WEST WARWICK, R.I. -- At least 95 people were confirmed dead and dozens injured when flames engulfed a Rhode Island nightclub during a pyrotechnics display at a rock concert late Thursday night.
The blaze broke out at The Station in West Warwick at about 11 p.m. as the rock group Great White performed in front of more than 300 people.West Warwick Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said at 4:30 p.m. that all bodies had been removed from the rubble of the nightclub.Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri said that the remains of 95 people were removed from the site."They are pulling out parts of the floor and of the building where people tried to get out and couldn't," Carcieri said. "You have no business putting off pyrotechnics in that building, as far as I am concerned.""People were pawing, scratching and punching -- anything that they could do to get out," one witness said.About 180 people were taken to hospitals across the region with injuries ranging from smoke inhalation to severe burns. A fireworks display may have ignited a foam substance behind the stage."There are going to be a number of families who are disrupted. The magnitude of the tragedy is worse because there are so many young people," Bauer said.Bauer said that the club had recently passed a fire inspection, but didn't have a permit for pyrotechnics. He said that the death toll would likely climb as crews search through the rubble.
"We are still in the process of searching for more victims. There was a live band performance in progress. There was a live pyrotechnics display and we believe that may have been the cause of the fire," Chief Charles Hall of the West Warwick Fire Department said.Charges against the nightclub owners, former WHDH-TV reporter Jeff Derderian and his brother, would "most definitely" be filed, according to West Warwick Police Department Chief Peter Brousseau.He said that the club's lack of a pyrotechnics permit was a major factor in the tragedy."We rarely use pyrotechnics. We got permission from the club. I walked on stage. All of a sudden I feel heat. I see that the foam is on fire. All of a sudden the whole place was dark. There were no security lights," Great White lead singer Jack Russell said. "This place went up like the Fourth of July," he said.In a written statement, a lawyer representing the club owners said that permission was not given for the pyrotechnics display."At no time did either owner have knowledge that pyrotechnics were going to be used by the band Great White," the statement read. "No permission was ever requested by the band or its agents to use pyrotechnics at The Station, and no permission was ever given."NewsCenter 5 confirmed that Great White played three other venues where the owners claimed they used pyrotechnics without permission at clubs in Maine, New Jersey and Florida. There were no further comments from the band Friday.A guitarist from the band was unaccounted for Friday.Officials said that concertgoers who could not reach the exits rushed into the building's bathrooms to escape the heat."There were people trapped in bathrooms calling on their cell phones and things like that," Bauer said. "There is a good possibility that more bodies will be found. The numbers are staggering, and impact will be staggering."Firefighters throughout the morning carried bodies to ambulances at the scene. At local hospitals, Kent Hospital treated about 50 patients, and Rhode Island Hospital reported that it treated more than 40 patients. Dr. Selim Suner said the hospital was transferring 10 patients to regional burn centers.Ten victims were airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital. Most were listed in critical condition."The physician who accepted the first patients over night has been with us for six years. She said that these are the worst burns that she has ever seen," Massachusetts General Hospital's Dr. Alasdair Conn said. "You can save patients with major burns, but these are very critical patients -- especially when you have inhalation burns on top of the burned skin. So it is really touch-and-go."A few Bay State residents searched the hospitals for relatives that attended the concert. Mike Croteau, who was watching the news on TV Friday morning, thought that he saw his brother in the crowd."He was right near the speaker in the front of the stage. They've checked every hospital in Rhode Island and they can't find him," Croteau said.Video from the scene showed concertgoers scrambling for safety, trampling others, as fire darted up a wall behind he band. Dozens rushed to the front becoming and became trapped as the crowd tried to squeeze through the exit.WPRI-TV was inside the club covering the event. News Director Gary Brown said that the station's cameraman was taping the event, and stopped rolling to help get people out."We got bottlenecked into the front door. People kept pushing. Eventually, everyone popped out of the door, including myself. That's when I went around back. There was no one coming out the back door anymore. I kicked out a side window to try to get people out of there. I went back around the front, and that is when you saw people stacked on top of each other trying to get out of the front door," WPRI-TV cameraman Brian Butler said.Survivors who escaped the fire searched for friends outside the burning building. Some described the tragedy as a scene out of a TV drama."It is like an episode of 'E.R.'. I've never seen anything like this before," one survivor said."It was calm at first, everyone thought it was part of the act. It happened so fast. The whole ceiling was on fire. I was one of the lucky ones. I got out," witness John DiMeo said.WHJY-FM spokesman Joe Bevilacua said that a popular local disc jockey, Dr. Metal, was on stage introducing the band."We tried to find the doctor, but we don't know where he is," Bevilacua said.The band Great White is best known for their breakout hit "Once Bitten Twice Shy," for which they earned a Grammy nomination.
| Video |
  Fire Sweeps Through ClubLead Singer Describes FirePhotographer Was On SceneSurvivors Search For Friends, RelativesEMERGENCY INFORMATION  Emergency Information Line: (401) 462-7111R. I. Hospital: (401) 444-4005Kent County Hospital: (401) 737-7000West Warwick Info. Line: (401) 823-3326RESOURCES |
"We are still in the process of searching for more victims. There was a live band performance in progress. There was a live pyrotechnics display and we believe that may have been the cause of the fire," Chief Charles Hall of the West Warwick Fire Department said.Charges against the nightclub owners, former WHDH-TV reporter Jeff Derderian and his brother, would "most definitely" be filed, according to West Warwick Police Department Chief Peter Brousseau.He said that the club's lack of a pyrotechnics permit was a major factor in the tragedy."We rarely use pyrotechnics. We got permission from the club. I walked on stage. All of a sudden I feel heat. I see that the foam is on fire. All of a sudden the whole place was dark. There were no security lights," Great White lead singer Jack Russell said. "This place went up like the Fourth of July," he said.In a written statement, a lawyer representing the club owners said that permission was not given for the pyrotechnics display."At no time did either owner have knowledge that pyrotechnics were going to be used by the band Great White," the statement read. "No permission was ever requested by the band or its agents to use pyrotechnics at The Station, and no permission was ever given."NewsCenter 5 confirmed that Great White played three other venues where the owners claimed they used pyrotechnics without permission at clubs in Maine, New Jersey and Florida. There were no further comments from the band Friday.A guitarist from the band was unaccounted for Friday.Officials said that concertgoers who could not reach the exits rushed into the building's bathrooms to escape the heat."There were people trapped in bathrooms calling on their cell phones and things like that," Bauer said. "There is a good possibility that more bodies will be found. The numbers are staggering, and impact will be staggering."Firefighters throughout the morning carried bodies to ambulances at the scene. At local hospitals, Kent Hospital treated about 50 patients, and Rhode Island Hospital reported that it treated more than 40 patients. Dr. Selim Suner said the hospital was transferring 10 patients to regional burn centers.Ten victims were airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital. Most were listed in critical condition."The physician who accepted the first patients over night has been with us for six years. She said that these are the worst burns that she has ever seen," Massachusetts General Hospital's Dr. Alasdair Conn said. "You can save patients with major burns, but these are very critical patients -- especially when you have inhalation burns on top of the burned skin. So it is really touch-and-go."A few Bay State residents searched the hospitals for relatives that attended the concert. Mike Croteau, who was watching the news on TV Friday morning, thought that he saw his brother in the crowd."He was right near the speaker in the front of the stage. They've checked every hospital in Rhode Island and they can't find him," Croteau said.Video from the scene showed concertgoers scrambling for safety, trampling others, as fire darted up a wall behind he band. Dozens rushed to the front becoming and became trapped as the crowd tried to squeeze through the exit.WPRI-TV was inside the club covering the event. News Director Gary Brown said that the station's cameraman was taping the event, and stopped rolling to help get people out."We got bottlenecked into the front door. People kept pushing. Eventually, everyone popped out of the door, including myself. That's when I went around back. There was no one coming out the back door anymore. I kicked out a side window to try to get people out of there. I went back around the front, and that is when you saw people stacked on top of each other trying to get out of the front door," WPRI-TV cameraman Brian Butler said.Survivors who escaped the fire searched for friends outside the burning building. Some described the tragedy as a scene out of a TV drama."It is like an episode of 'E.R.'. I've never seen anything like this before," one survivor said."It was calm at first, everyone thought it was part of the act. It happened so fast. The whole ceiling was on fire. I was one of the lucky ones. I got out," witness John DiMeo said.WHJY-FM spokesman Joe Bevilacua said that a popular local disc jockey, Dr. Metal, was on stage introducing the band."We tried to find the doctor, but we don't know where he is," Bevilacua said.The band Great White is best known for their breakout hit "Once Bitten Twice Shy," for which they earned a Grammy nomination.Copyright 2007 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
