WEST WARWICK / Updated 9 p.m. -- At least 96 people were killed after a
Cowesett Avenue nightclub burst into flames during a pyrotechnics
display at a rock concert last night, igniting the deadliest fire in
Rhode Island's history and the nation's worst nightclub fire in 25 years.
Many more people were injured as patrons frantically rushed to escape
the raging fire at The Station nightclub. A total of 187 persons were
taken to several area hospitals, officials said.
Firefighters helped get an estimated 100 people out of the building.
Five firefighters were injured.
Families and friends tonight were struggling tonight to find out whether
their loved ones survived the blaze. Governor Carcieri said officials
are working as fast as they can to identify the victims and notify next
of kin.
No victims' identities have yet been released to the public. Survivors
are being asked to call emergency officials to aid in the effort to
track down the missing, at: (401) 462-7111.
Fire and heavy smoke spread through the 50-year-old wooden building
within seconds after a pyrotechnics display ignited at the start of a
concert by the rock group Great White about 11 o'clock last night.
Carcieri said a survivor told him, "If you weren't out of that building
in 30 seconds, you didn't have a prayer."
After a day-long effort, rescue workers had recovered 95 bodies from the
building's charred remains by 5 p.m. Another victim was added to the
count just before 9 p.m.
The blaze was the deadliest U.S. nightclub fire since 164 people were
killed at the Beverly Hills Supper Club at Southgate, Ky., in 1977. It
claimed the most victims in a Rhode Island fire since 10 students at
Providence College died in a dormitory fire in December 1977.
Governor Carcieri fears the death toll could climb since many of those
in the hospital are in critical condition. Eighty-one people remain
hospitalized tonight, Carcieri said at a 5 p.m. press conference. Ten of
the injured were transferred to Boston hospitals, while 25 of them
remain in critical condition at Rhode Island hospitals.
The number of victims climbed rapidly throughout the morning and into
the afternoon. Given the most recent totals, Carcieri said, it now
appears that the crowd inside The Station exceeded 350 persons. The
club's official capacity was 300.
Carcieri, who returned this morning from a working vacation in Florida,
said that all the victims continue to be those removed from the scene of
the fire at 211 Cowesett Ave.
"They're almost finished with the site. They just had two final sweeps
of the site. We think we have recovered all the bodies there," the
governor said.
As far as state officials can determine, none of those brought to
hospitals for treatment have yet died, Carcieri said.
The latest number was up 9 from the last count announced at about 3:30
p.m. That was up on one from the previous report, less than a half-hour
before. An hour before that, the known number of victims was 75,
according to West Warwick Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer, up 10 from the
toll reported just before noon.
Firefighters went through "a nightmare" in their efforts to recover the
bodies, Carcieri said, calling it "agonizing, emotionally-draining
work." He said chaplains worked along with the rescue workers.
"Every time they bring somebody out they stop and take off their
helmets. They and the chaplains are praying," Carcieri said.
Officials have started notifying the victims' families. Some were badly
burned, and investigators may have to rely on other means, such as DNA
samples, to positively identify them.
"I'm not sure New England has seen anything like this since the Cocoanut
Grove fire," said Dr. Joseph Amaral, president of Rhode Island Hospital
in Providence, one of several hospitals treating victims from the fire.
In 1942, fire at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston killed 492
people.
Amaral's staff had to kick into high gear, when 63 victims were brought
to his hospital last night. Forty-three were admitted. Thirty-eight were
"severely injured," Amaral said.
By mid-morning, officials had brought heavy equipment to the scene this
morning to search through the rubble for the bodies of other victims.
Aerial views of the scene were showing a gaping black hole where the
club once stood. White wisps of smoke emerged from the rubble, where
flames had raged hours before.
The fire comes four days after 21 people were killed and more than 50
injured during a stampede in a Chicago nightclub that began when a
security guard used pepper spray to break up a fight.
Questions over use of pyrotechnics
At a 7 a.m. press conference, Fire Chief Charles Hall said that the club
apparently did not have a town permit for a pyrotechnics display that
was part of the act of the rock band Great White.
Club owners Michael and Jeff Derderian issued a statement through their
attorney saying they did not know Great White planned to use
pyrotechnics.
"No permission was ever requested by the band or its agents to use
pyrotechnics at The Station, and no permission was ever given," said the
statement released by attorney Kathleen M. Hagerty, on behalf of the
Derderian brothers.
Jack Russell, lead singer for Great White, said today that he had
permission from the club to use pyrotechnics.
Acts shooting off pyrotechnics are required to have state certification,
state Fire Marshal Irving Owens said today. Permits are also required
for the show. He said his office was investigating.
Shortly after his return from Florida this morning, spurred by the fire,
Carcieri said, "They had no business putting off pyrotechnics in that
building. As far as I can see, somebody made a bad decision."
Fire Capt. Russell McGillivray said last night that many of the victims
were found in the front door area after apparently becoming trapped
trying to escape the fast-spreading flames. One West Warwick fire
official at the scene reported at that bodies were "stacked in there
like cordwood."
In contrast to Carcieri's most recent remarks, Chief Hall said this
morning that he believed there were fewer than 300 patrons at the club,
whose maximum capacity is authorized at 300.
Blaze breaks out at start of show
The blaze broke out at about 11 p.m. during the first song of a concert
by the '80s hard rock band Great White, which is based in Los Angeles.
A fireworks display that was part of the show apparently ignited
Styrofoam in the ceiling, and flames quickly engulfed the club.
"The place went up within a matter of two minutes," witness John Kudryk
said.
The club did not have a sprinkler system, but the system was not
required because of the club's size, according to Hall.
He said the fire quickly spread to paneling and a suspended ceiling near
the stage. He could not confirm whether Styrofoam was one of the
materials ignited.
"The building was well involved (in fire) within three minutes," Hall
said.
Several hospitals pressed into service
More than 160 people were taken to area hospitals including Rhode Island
Hospital and Kent County Memorial Hospital in nearby Warwick, said
Bauer. People were also brought to Massachusetts General Hospital and
UMass-Memorial Hospital in Worcester, Mass.
The club had four working exits, but Hall believes many of the patrons
were unfamiliar with the building and, in their rush to get out, tried
to leave through the same door they came in.
Officials said they believe victims died from fire injuries and smoke
inhalation. Some may have been trampled as they headed for the door.
The club was last inspected two months ago as part of its liquor-license
renewal process, according to Hall. He said some violations were
discovered during the inspection, but they were rectified.
The police are interviewing patrons, employees and the club's owner to
determine what happened, said West Warwick Police Chief Peter Brousseau.
He said criminal charges could result from the investigation.
"Once our investigation is done, we will have a clear picture of who was
at fault," he said.
Gruesome scene
Emergency-response crews flocked to the club from all over the state and
nearby Massachusetts, their fire and rescue trucks clogging a long
stretch of Cowesett Avenue.
In a chaotic and gruesome procession, victims came staggering out of the
Cowesett Inn across the road, where rescue workers set up a triage
center to evaluate and treat victims; some victims were horribly
scorched. Rescuers carried stretchers bearing dozens of badly injured
victims.
Firefighters worked into the morning to pull charred bodies from the
building as onlookers watched, worried about missing friends.
"They were completely burned. They had pieces of flesh falling off
them," said Michelle Craine of West Warwick, who was waiting to hear
about a friend who was missing. "It was the worst thing I've ever seen."
Paul Vanner, the club's sound technician and stage manager, said one
person from the band was missing.
Chaos erupted moments after the fire started. Witnesses said dozens of
people dashed toward the door, and some of those who escaped were later
seen staggering into a triage center. Rescuers carried dozens of people
on stretchers.
Rescuers were pulling badly injured victims from the fire as ladder
trucks poured water over the flaming skeleton of the building.
The scene was captured on video by a cameraman for local TV station
WPRI, Brian Butler, who was on assignment for a feature story on
nightclub safety in the wake of the deadly stampede four days at a club
in Chicago.
The Station co-owner Jeff Derderian is also a television reporter, who
just this week joined the news staff at WPRI-TV, according to Boston's
WHDH-TV news director Ed Kosowski.
The club was a popular venue for many bands from the 1970s and 1980s, as
well as local groups.
Fast-moving fire
"It was calm at first, everyone thought it was part of the act," said
John DiMeo, who was sitting at the bar near the front door when the fire
started. "It happened so fast."
Jack Russell, the lead singer of the Los-Angeles based Great White band,
said the club had given permission to use pyrotechnics.
"It went up like a Christmas tree," Russell said. "I was trying to put
it out with a bottle of water. I turned around and the building was
engulfed. My sound man is injured. I'm on my way to the hospital. I'm
missing my guitar player."
Great White was nominated for a Grammy award for best hard-rock
performance in 1990.
At a news conference, Bauer said an investigation was under way to see
if the club had a license for fireworks. He said a flame from the
pyrotechnics display hit Styrofoam in the ceiling.
"Something went off with a lot of heat and caused some material,
whatever was on the ceiling or in the vicinity, to go off," he said.
"And I assume there was smoke, dense smoke somebody told me, and fire."
Linda Ormerod of Providence, a patron, described the blaze that roared
through the club: "We were standing there, watching Great White come on,
and the next thing, it was catching fire. I said to my boyfriend, 'We
gotta go.' It was like a stampede. I really thought that was it for me.
Everything went black."
Someone "kicked out a window, I was hanging out the window, and then
somebody threw me out," Ormerod said. "It was the most horrible thing
I've ever been through.
"People were screaming, 'Help me, help me,' and I was screaming 'Help
me' myself."
Standing with her grandson outside the smoldering club at 1 a.m., she
said she didn't know where her boyfriend had gone.
Help comes from around the region
Private ambulances and rescue squads had been dispatched from
Providence, Warwick, Cranston, East Greenwich, West Greenwich, Johnston,
North Providence, Pawtucket, North Kingstown, Jamestown, Exeter,
Scituate, Coventry, Bristol County and North Attleboro and Norton,
Mass., among others.
This morning, access to the area was being blocked by police at the
intersection of the street with Route 2. Witnesses, however, said the
area was quiet after the chaos of the night.
A support center for family members of victims has been set up at the
nearby Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, said Red Cross spokeswoman Sarah
Bilofsky.
It is being staffed by a team of mental health counselors, some clergy
and Red Cross volunteers. Police are at the hotel to guide family
members and register them, she said.
Firefighters and other rescue personnel gathered this morning at the
Cowesett Inn, near The Station, Bilofsky said, where they were warming
up and getting coffee. "There's a lot of very tired firefighters right
now," she said, adding, "I think that people are just beginning to come
to terms with what has happened."
Events cancelled
Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline and the Providence Tourism Council
have cancelled all of this weekend's IceFire carnival events in the wake
of fire.
Earlier today, the city had scheduled a memorial service for tonight,
but that has since been cancelled.
-- With reports from projo.com staff writers Andrea Panciera and
Sheila Lennon, Journal staff writers Scott Mayerowitz, Scott MacKay,
Karen Lee Ziner, Zachary R. Mider, Cathleen F. Crowley and Meaghan Wims
and the Associated Press.
