02/24/2003

The following is a first-person account of The Station fire by one of its survivors, Robert Riffe, 22, of Ashaway, R.I., who has asked projo.com to post his story in the hope that his thanks will reach the unknown person who saved him from the blaze.

Somewhere between 7:45-8 p.m., I arrived at The Station rock club with my friend Ryan Fleck. To my knowledge, neither of us had ever been there before. We walked around the club just to check the place out. During the course of the first two bands' performances, we each had a couple of drinks as most people did to enjoy the night.

About one minute prior to Great White taking the stage, my friend Ryan returned from the bathroom. We stood about 15-20 feet from the stage, which is also about 15-20 feet from the main entrance. We were standing on the side of the room that was closest to the front of the building.

As Great White started the first song, the pyrotechnics began to go off. They seemed to last around 5-10 seconds, and as they were going off I recall thinking to myself, "Wow! I'm surprised they use pyro's in this small club."

Even though I could tell that the pyrotechnics were finished, I could see flames climbing up the egg carton-shaped, foam soundproofing. For a couple of seconds, I expected to see someone with a fire extinguisher on each side of the stage putting the flames out.

During these couple of seconds, I said to my friend Ryan, "Uh oh, they set the sound-proofing stuff on fire."

"They sure did," he replied. Then after another couple seconds and the flames began to grow, I turned to him and said, "Let's get the hell out of here." We both turned and headed for the main door, which like many people, was the only door we knew of.

I believe I heard people screaming fire, I recall seeing someone in the band throw a cup of water on the flames, which of course did nothing. I'm also pretty sure I heard Jack Russell, the lead singer; say either, "Thank you" or "Good night."

The door way was set up in a Y shape, where the Station's two main rooms emptied into two very short hallways, which turned into one smaller one, which led to the door. Just as we reached the point where the two hallways came to one, the thick black smoke just completely filled the room. I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe, and as far as I knew, my friend Ryan was right behind me.

As I got within inches from the door way, I just came to a complete stop. I couldn't move. Being careful not to fall down and get trampled, I bent down, sucked up some air from the floor area where there was no smoke, held my breath, and pushed forward. I had gotten my head and torso out of the main door, so I was breathing fresh air, but my legs were caught in the middle of the people piled in the door way.

At first I was on my stomach, there were a few guys that had already escaped trying to pull people out. One man grabbed me, tried pulling me out, but quickly gave up.

Somehow, I turned on my back, still on top of people, and people on top of me and reached out toward another man. He pulled at me, and somehow I budged a little. I think this gave both of us hope because he kept pulling harder, he was screaming at me, "Come on! You can do it! Get out! Come on! Pull! Push! Come on!"

But my legs were stuck and I couldn't get out. Somehow, with my legs buried in the pile, I was able to kick my shoes off which gave me the extra inch or so that I needed and my legs slipped out.

I never had a chance to thank that man, because as soon as I was out was out, he began helping someone else and I began pulling on people as well. I tried pulling on one man and could not get him to even budge the tiniest bit. I grabbed onto a woman who was trapped at the bottom, and could not get her to budge either. I felt so useless.

Suddenly it dawned on my that my friend Ryan was behind me, and if I barely go out, he must have still been in there. I ran down the steps so I could look at the pile of helpless people to see if I could see him anywhere.

Just then, the flames reached the doorway and the people who I had just been trapped under, were now burning. I couldn't and I started to go into what I assume was a state of shock. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything but stand there and scream his name and the words, "I'm sorry."

The entire time I was in that pile, I kept thinking in my head that this was it. This was the end. I had made far enough to get fresh air in my lungs, but now I was going to burn to death. Now that I was finally out, all I could imagine was that everyone who was still in there, including my friend Ryan, was being asphyxiated by the smoke and/or burning to death. It was complete horror.

I turned around to see if I could see him anywhere, and there he was standing by my car looking for me. I ran over to him and happy that he was alive and well, I gave him a hug. He somehow got out before me.

As we both turned around to look at the building, we could see people coming out of the windows, and people scattered throughout the parking lot. Some were still burning, others were smoldering, and others were all bloodied from jumping out of the windows and onto the pavement.

There were so many ambulances and fire trucks already there by this time. I couldn't think of what to do, so I moved my car out of the parking lot and into the lot next-door to make room for the emergency vehicles.

By this time the entire building was engulfed in flames, the ceiling was gone, and it seemed like no one else was coming out of the building. Neither of us are trained in any kind of emergency rescue, and we felt useless being able to do nothing. The best we could do was stay out of the way, as we let the emergency workers do their jobs.

All we could do was watch in horror, as all those people were hurt, and all the others tragically trapped inside lost their lives.

As we were exiting the club, I do remember looking over my shoulder a couple of times, and I just can't believe how fast the fire moved. Within about 5 seconds of us heading to the door, the flames were already about half way through the first room, and the black smoke had filled the entire club.

The images, sounds, and smells that I witnessed that night are forever burned into my brain. And as horrible as that is, I'm glad that I was to get out and that I am able to have these horrible memories.

Obviously, no one ever dreamed something like this could happen at a rock 'n' roll show, and my heart and prayers go out to everyone who was affected by this in anyway. It was a tragic waste of 96 lives. It's something that ... definitely should not have happened and could have easily been avoided with some simple communication.

It's going to be a while before I go to another concert. And I can assure myself that from now on, no matter where I go, I'll be sure to locate all the exits upon entering a building.

Also, just to put my opinion out there, I hope some kind of law is passes which requires lighted exit signs not to only be placed above the doors but near the floor as well. With the smoke being as thick and black as it was, no one was in anyway able to see the exit signs.

I'm truly sorry to anyone whose lives were touched by this tragic event, and I just want say THANK YOU to whoever that unknown man was that pulled me out. May God bless him and his family. I don't know who he is, but to me he is a hero and my personal savior. Thank you again, and God Bless.