The Station Nightclub Fire Explosion

In West Warwick Rhode Island, on February 20th, 2003, during the performance of the band Great White, a fire broke out that eventually claimed the lives of 100 people and injured an additional 200. The band’s tour manager arranged for, and ignited pyrotechnic props, large fireworks designed to display a shower of sparks. The sparks ignited foam soundproofing near stage. The fire spread quickly. Most were killed either in the crush to exit the building or overcome by fumes while trying to find an exit. The immediate cause was well documented due to witness reports and a videotape that was taken during the concert. In the period that followed the tragedy there were many attempts to fix blame. Following a Grand Jury

The Local, State and Federal agencies were called to investigate the Station Nightclub fire incident and they found many issues. The polyurethane foam that was on the interior walls was the major factor in the Station Nightclub fire. It was easily ignited and also contributed to a faster fire spread within the building. According to NFPA 101, Life Safety Code, the interior finish is required to be Class A or B for general assembly areas with occupant loads of more than 300. It has been calculated that the number of occupants at the Station Nightclub was around 440-458 people, obviously well over this limit. The ignition of polyurethane foam gave out a magnitude of smoke and heat in such a short period of time and created mass chaos, thus resulting in a crowd-wide panic towards the initial entry point. Also NFPA 101, Life Safety Code, section 13.2.3.6.1 states that the main entrance/exit shall be of a width that accommodates one-half of the total occupant load and shall be at the level of exit discharge or shall connect to a stairway or ramp leading to a street. If the owner of The Station Nightclub would have

For example, workers of any age were permitted, as long as they worked (Staff, par. 2). Before leaving the building, workers had to pass through the only backdoor, which was down a narrow passageway, which was supposed to prevent robberies (Staff, par. 2). There were also many safety hazards that the owners slyly kept away from the eyes of the City Council members. There were only two slim fire escapes while there should have been three wide ones, and there were only a couple buckets of water given to throw at the event of a fire(Leap for Life, Leap of Death, par. 6). At the time of the fire, the fire department realized that there was a lot more that the owners could have done to prevent this accident. As an after effect of the fire, many rules were put into place in New York to prevent fires from happening in similar circumstances. A major law that was put into place is the Occupational Safety and Health act or OSHA (Korasick, par. 1). This law states that employees working in factories should not be exposed to anything harmful, should not have terrible working conditions, and that workplaces of factory employees need to be sanitary (Epa, 1). If the fire had not occurred, factories would still, under many circumstances, be

At 2215 hrs, on November 28, 1942, Fire Alarm Headquarters from Box 1514, situated at Stuart and Carver streets, received an alarm. When the responding apparatus arrived they found a small car fire at the corner of Stuart Street and Broadway. After the fire was extinguished the firefighters were about to return to quarters when their attention was called to smoke emanating from the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub a few doors away. Upon their arrival at the entrance of the Broadway lounge on Broadway they encountered numerous people leaving the premises admidst the cries of “fire”. The chief in charge immediately ordered that a third alarm be sounded from Alarm Box 1521 which the alarm was received by fire alarm headquarters at 2223 hrs. A

There is some dispute to the cause of the fire, but most believe it was set by three inmates who intended to cause a distraction during dinner time, so as to make an escape in the commotion. Instead, they mistimed the ignition device which didn’t ignite until they were all locked up for the night (Latta). This idea was later cemented as the cause when two of the three men hung themselves from grief. There are still some, however, that believe the fire was a tragic accident and the prison officials used the three inmates as an excuse to avoid blame

The fire, he said, started when sparks from the cutting of metal on a van inside the business ignited fuel on the floor. The van was located in the bay closest the residence, which is attached.

83 Archibald Street is at extreme risk in the event of the fire. The house has become hidden from street view due to a large, overgrown garden which poses significant risk. To worsen this risk, the building is largely constructed from wood along with a wooden side fence. Furthermore, chopped logs can be seen in the front yard which would make excellent fuel in the event of the fire.

The fire happened around midnight, and roughly 200 people were inside the Soundwave nightclub, which opened in 2003 and has never had an incident before. The two victims, David Gibson and Elizabeth Oxley, were died from smoke inhalation and most injuries were injured by trampling each other when the fire happened. Soundwave installed new ceiling fans one week ago, the police will investigate if the ceiling fans are the reason of the fire.

The sprinklers were only in the money counting area only and that was the only location of these sprinklers. The fire spread was at a rate of about sixteen to nineteen feet per second. The fire burned down the casino and bursted a fireball out of the entrance killing at least seven people. As the toxic smoke begin to go up the hotel floors, the people trying to go up the stairs got locked in as the doors locked as people exited the floors to roof. This was the main cause of the deaths as most people got trapped in the staircase.

A shocking explosion happened at a Washington Motel 6 which caused the manager to be called a hero after saving dozens of people inside. She helped get people out moments before the explosion that could have killed them all.

Prior to the fire at the Station nightclub, a crowd of over 400 people was gathered to see a concert with Great White headling. At 11:07 PM, the lights inside the club were dimmed in preparation for the headliner band. When the band got on stage, multi-colored lights for the performance were activated for aesthetic effect. Additionally four pyrotechnic "gerbs" were ignited to get the crowd excited (Grosshandler, Bryner, Madrzykowski, & Kuntz, 2005, p. 2-1).

The greatest lesson learned from this tragedy was the need for planned fire drills and accessible fire escapes. If the employers would have made it mandatory that all employees become familiar with the buildings layout, practice fire drills and know their closest fire escape, it would have aided the employees in the hour of despair. The biggest cause for death in this fire was a result of poor pre-fire planning. The building may be fire proof, but the people and contents inside are not.

In this past month there have been several bombings in Sunset Towers Apartment Complex. The first bombing took place in the coffee shop located on floor one. The second bombing took place in Shin Hoo's Restaurant on the fifth floor. The third bombing took place in Apartment 3D. The fourth bombing took place in the elevator of the the pied floor.

Fourteen people were injured when a camp bungalow exploded in New York. Three of the individuals were critically injured and one required being airlifted to a hospital. The injured people were returning to a bungalow at a camp for teenage boys when a sudden explosion occurred and caused the entire bungalow to erupt in massive flames.

An electrical fire starts in a nightclub with at least 250 to 300 patrons inside and quickly spreads throughout the club. Due to the nightclub’s location, in a high crime area of town near abandoned buildings, security bars cover the doors and windows. All occupants of the building, with the exception of the nightclub employees, are unaware of the other exits available during an emergency and a vast majority stampedes the front door to seek safety. As the fire continues to spread, heavy smoke proceeds to fill that main room where most of the 250-300 patrons were at the time. This heavy smoke causes patrons to lose visibility and have difficulty breathing. The patrons that have been able to escape the building suffer from major to minor injuries, while some patrons are still trapped. These patrons are suffering from burns and severe smoke inhalation (some may have possibly succumbed to the injuries). The nightclub’s employees have exited the building through various exits and contacted 911 and emergency personnel (fire department, police department, paramedics, etc.) arrive within 10 to 15 minutes of the first call. Ultimately, there are over 110 fatalities (on-site and at the hospital) as a result of this fire. Over 100 patrons also suffered physical injuries and most will be affected mentally and emotionally as a result.