A flash fire sparked by a rock band’s illegal pyrotechnic display raged through a Rhode Island nightclub, destroying it in just three minutes, killing 96 people and injuring another 190.
Many could be heard howling in pain, shouting for help as the club burned.
“They tried to go out the same way they came in. That was the problem,” said West Warwick Fire Chief Charles Hall. “They didn’t use the other three fire exits.”
Investigators will continue sifting the charred remains today for evidence and personal belongings that might help identify the victims.
Part of the building was still standing, along with the marquee advertising one-hit-wonder Great White’s appearance at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, 15 miles southwest of Providence.
“This building went up fast. Nobody had a chance,” said Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri as he stood amid the rubble of the single-story wood building.
The fire was worse than the 1990 inferno at the Happy Land Social Club in The Bronx, which claimed 87 lives. The fire also came less than a week after 21 clubgoers were killed in a stampede at a Chicago nightspot.
The blaze erupted around 11 p.m. Thursday after the heavy metal group Great White took the stage and set off giant pyrotechnic sparklers.
A TV news cameraman turned his camera on the fireworks as they ignited the ceiling and soundproofing near the stage.
In three minutes, the club was engulfed in flames and people were fleeing for their lives – many fighting their way out, blinded and suffocated by the thick smoke.
Hall said the club did not have a permit for the pyrotechnics, as required by law. The club also did not have a sprinkler system – but one was not mandatory because of the small size of the 60- year-old building, he said.
Great White lead singer Jack Russell claimed his group had the club’s approval for the fireworks – but lawyers for the Station insisted no such permission had been requested or granted. The owners of three other clubs – including Domenic Santana of the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J. – said Great White had failed to tell them they planned to use pyrotechnics at recent concerts.
“My sound man freaked out because of the heat and everything, and they jeopardized the health and the safety of our patrons,” Santana said.
Rhode Island officials were investigating, and local Police Chief Peter Brousseau said there “most definitely” would be charges filed.
“As we dig deeper into this, we’ll find that people did things they shouldn’t have done,” said Gov. Carcieri, who flew home from a Florida vacation early yesterday.
“You have no business using pyrotechnics in that building,” he said. “Somebody made a bad decision. People clearly couldn’t have survived long in that building.”
The capacity of the club was 300, but there were probably more there Thursday night.
Most of the dead were found near the front door – some burned, others trampled in the panicked rush to get out.
Many who couldn’t make it to an exit jumped through windows.
Among the missing was Great White guitarist Ty Longley. Heartbroken relatives scoured hospitals hoping their missing loved ones were alive.
Hundreds of firefighters and emergency medical technicians rushed to the scene from Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Among them was Cranston, R.I., Deputy EMS Chief Steve McGovern, who said it was the worst fire he had ever seen.
“There were people running, people on stretchers. A lot of severe burns,” he said.
“People piled into the trunks of cars and into the backs of pickup trucks just to get to a hospital. It was hard to contain injuries.
“In 21 years in the fire department, this is the worst I’ve ever seen. The emotional toll is heavy.”