Fire Disaster One of the Worst Nightclub

¶ … Fire Disaster

One of the worst nightclub fires in recent U.S. history killed one hundred people and injured 230 people in West Warwick, Rhode Island on February 20, 2003. It was the fourth deadliest nightclub fire disaster in American history. This paper reviews the reason for the fire, what the injuries were for the concert-goers, and adds what could have been done to prevent the fire.

The Tragic Station Fire

The rock concert featured a group called the Great White, and when they opened up their show that night, they had planned a big spectacular pyrotechnic exhibition. As the band began to play, on-stage fireworks went off. "As the crowd cheered, fire engulfed the soundproofing foam behind the state and quickly spread," according to CNN (2003). Video shot by a CNN affiliate shows people at first watching the fire "…or casually" making their way toward the exits. Then panic broke out and the band members leaped off the stage and into the crowd and headed for exits.

One of the survivors who was interviewed by CNN, Lisa Shea, said "The whole place got tons of black smoke…I got knocked to the ground. People were standing on my back, my head, I was holding my head and I said, 'I'm going to die here.' All I could think about was my mother, and I said, 'I got to get up. I got to get up'" (CNN).

The video by CNN showed "…piles of people lying on top of each other, trying to push their way out of the club," and the fire chief (Charlie Hall) said that one of the problems was the smoke was so thick people could not see the exit signs. Hall also said that because the wooden structure (the building is known as The Station) was built in 1976, it was not required to build sprinkler systems into the structure. "If there were sprinklers in this building, we wouldn't be here right now," Hall told CNN.

Other factors that contributed to the tragedy: a) the band did not get a permit to use pyrotechnics, which is required; b) the suspended ceiling was flammable; c) people tried to get out the same way they came in and many people were trampled to death in that crush; d) the building owner did not know that Great White planned to ignite fireworks inside the building (CNN).

An article in The New York Times five years after the tragedy explains that Linda Fisher, one of the survivors who was badly burned, has been through "…a dozen surgeries to salvage her arms, her hands, her face," but she feels lucky (Goodnough, 2008). "There are survivors who have no ears, eyes, nose, hair," Fisher explained. Another survivor, Todd King, runs the "Station Family Fund," a nonprofit that raises money for the most seriously burned victims. King told the Times that there are hardships survivors face because they can't earn a living any longer.

"People that were making $30,000, $40,000 a year…" but were seriously burned, "had to take jobs making eight bucks an hour because they are so physically challenged. They can barely use their hands, and they're exhausted all the time because their bodies have been put through the war" (Goodnough, p. 1).