Station Night Club Fire: What

¶ … Station Night Club Fire: What Happened?

Federal fire officials call the Station Night Club Fire the fourth worst in the history of the United States in terms of lives lost. One hundred people were killed in West Warwick, Rhode Island on the night of February 20, 2003, when the band on the stage (Great White) ignited pyrotechnics as part of their show. Unfortunately, that was a foolish and deadly mistake because the pyrotechnics quickly ignited the foam insulation that lined the walls and part of the ceiling directly above the stage, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency that is under the U.S. Department of Commerce and conducts physical science research for the federal government.

Fire Facts and Follow-up Research Reports

The research report published by NIST (Madrzykowski, 2008) explains that there was a video made of the fire (by a news reporter) that showed smoke visible in the exit doorway "in a little more than one minute, and flames were observed breaking through a portion of the roof in less than five minutes"

(Madrzykowski, p. 22). The front door of the nightclub was available, but so were the side doors; still, the 462 people stampeded towards the front door. According to the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), one of the agencies that conducted a case study, there were four exits. The main doors (two, each 36 inches wide) were available; another door was available as a side door near the bar area and still another through the kitchen (both those doors and an exit by the stage were all 36 inches wide). There were fire alarms in the building along with "heat detectors, and horn/strobe notification units"

(Duval, 2006, p. 15). However, two things worked to the disadvantage of the people in the club. One, the fire alarm system was not connected to the local fire department, and two, the club was not protected with automatic sprinklers (Duval, p. 15). The club did have fire extinguishers scattered around the building but apparently the fire was moving so fast and was so hot, the only thought any concertgoer had was to try to get outside.

The building itself was constructed in 1946 and had been a restaurant, a tavern and a nightclub through the years. The building was a "wood-framed structure" with a "mansard-type roof facade on the north side" (Duval, p. 13). The walls had wooden shingles and the roof was "mostly flat with a built-up asphalt covering"; the windows, located on the east side of the front entrance were "sunroom-type" and small windows in the offices and the restrooms had security bars on them (Duval, p. 13).

Because there was a video photographer on hand (Brian Butler of WPRI-TV) investigators later could see clearly exactly what took place within the exact seconds that the video replay revealed. The Great White band opened with a song called "Desert Moon" and within seconds the tour manager for the band, Daniel Biechele, set off the fireworks ("gerbs"). Within 9 seconds after the "gerbs" were set off, flame was visible on the wall of the stage (this NFPA "Timetable" is on page 18 of the report). Flames were seen working their way up the wall within 19 seconds; the ceiling above the band was on fire in 25 seconds. It took 35 seconds of fire before the band decided to stop playing. At 48 seconds into the event, the alarms were first heard then at one minute, smoke filled the ceiling of the entire club.

A minute and 43 seconds after the first blaze started smoke had reached the bottom of the sunroom windows; black smoke was billowing out the front door just under two minutes into the event. At two minutes, "Alarms [were] no long audible from the outside of the building" and 2:23 occupants who could not squeeze their way out the front door were exiting through the windows near the bar. Black smoke was pouring out of all front openings three minutes after the start of the fire. Bodies were piled on top of one another at the front door, victims of being trampled, at 3:25. Four minutes into the fire "Black smoke thickening at all front openings" and at 4:30 fire truck sirens can be heard on the video shot by the TV cameraman. Between 4:30 and 4:45 the stage is fully engulfed in flames and materials are dripping from the ceiling. At 5:23 flames are licking out of the front doors and windows. Soon the entire building is engulfed in flame and eventually the club burned to the ground (NFPA Case Study, p. 18).

All available fire engines from West Warwick and surrounding towns fought the fire; the initial 911 call came from several cell phones at the club, according to the NFPA report. The West Warwick Fire Department requested "mutual aid from surrounding communities for both fire apparatus and ambulances"; a "Multiple Casualty Incident" (MCI) was declared and the local plan (MCI) went into effect. A restaurant just across the street from the club was used as a triage area but most victims were transported to nearby hospitals and trauma centers, the NFPA report continues on page 17. More than 200 victims were treated on the scene and then transported to hospitals.

As for those unfortunate souls who perished in the fire, once the injured had been taken to hospitals, units from the State Fire Marshall, Medical Examiner's Office, and a "task force" of local law enforcement agencies participated. Identifying the bodies was a gruesome, time-consuming process; the last victim was identified on February 25, 2003.

In all, of the 462 occupants in the club,100 people were killed, more than 200 were injured. The Providence Journal (Parker, 2007) reported that there were vast discrepancies in the club's capacity. The Journal claimed that 462 people were in the building, a count that "…exceeds all the various limits on the club's capacity…which ranged from as low as 253 to 404"

(Parker, p. 1).

The owner of the Station club, Jeffrey A. Derderian, told police a few hours after the fire that he had been in the club at 10:00 P.M. that night, an hour before the fire started. Derderian, according to Parker's story in the Journal, said he checked the "clicker" that employees had used to keep track of the number of patrons had passed through the door. He claimed there were about 260 people in the building at that time. Later, the manager of the club told Parker that the "clicker" only reflected the paying customers -- that there were many members of the club staff, members of the entourages from the three bands that played that night, and "several dozen people on the guest list" as well (Parker, p. 3). The variation in the numbers for the club's capacity -- a subject of debate in the aftermath -- is partly due to the fact that without pool tables and other tables the capacity grows and with tables of course fewer people can be in the club.

The community held a memorial service on February 24, 2003 and shortly thereafter Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri issues a moratorium on the use of pyrotechnic displays at venues that hold fewer than 300 people. The band, Great White, launched a benefit tour a few months after the fire to raise money for the families that were affected by the tragedy. A Station Family Fund was set up as a nonprofit (501(c)(3) on February 20, 2003. "The Station Family Fund is now outsourcing all requests for assistance" the website explained; "every dollar raised by the Station Family Fund, inc., will go directly to address the needs of the survivors and the families of victims impacted by The Station nightclub fire" (www.stationfamilyfund.org).