WEST WARWICK -- A deadly fire ripped through a West Warwick nightclub
last night, killing an unknown number of patrons and burning and
injuring scores, many critically.
One West Warwick fire official at the scene reported at 1:20 a.m. today
that there were multiple fatalities. Bodies "are stacked in there like
cordwood," he said.
The blaze, apparently triggered by a rock band's pyrotechnic special
effects, gutted The Station, a popular music venue at 211 Cowesett Ave.,
shortly after 11 p.m.
Emergency-response crews flocked to the still-burning 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.
About 150 patrons were believed to have been sent to area hospitals,
some with severe burns, officials said. Kent County Memorial Hospital,
which has the nearest emergency room, alone was treating 40 patients,
some of them with trampling injuries from the chaos immediately
following the fire.
Ladder trucks were still pouring water over the flaming skeleton of the
building at 1:50 a.m.
One patron estimated that upward of 300 people were in the club when the
fast-moving fire ignited on the stage behind the Los Angeles-based rock
band Great White. The flames shot from the stage to the ceiling and then
ignited soundproofing material on the walls, several witnesses said.
"It went up like a Christmas tree," said Jack Russell, Great White's
lead singer. "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.
Russell said the club had given permission to use pyrotechnics.
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.
At 1:30 a.m., Rhode Island Hospital said it was treating 40 victims from
the fire. Eight were considered critical and were in intensive care.
Three victims were transferred to a Boston hospital.
Most of the structure was consumed by the blaze, with little left but
part of a wall to the right of the entrance where a portrait of John
Lennon was still visible. State fire marshals were on the scene.
"The place went up within a matter of two minutes," John Kudryk of
Southeastern Massachusetts said. "Two of our friends, we can't find
them" because they were seated near the front, and it appeared they
didn't have time to get out. Kudryk said he was near the center of the
crowd and was among the last to escape.
Paul Vanner, of East Providence, The Station's sound technician and
stage manager, said the pyrotechnics sparked two fires. He said he ran
to get a fire extinguisher, and by the time he got back the blaze was
out of control.
One firefighter said officials were trying to determine which hospitals
would be able to treat the high number of badly burned patrons. Victims
were taken to Kent County Memorial Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital,
Hasbro Children's Hospital, Roger Williams Medical Center, Our Lady of
Fatima Hospital and South County Hospital.
Shuttle buses and RIPTA buses were lining up to transport scores of
lesser-injured victims. Helicopters were dispatched to pick up victims
at the scene and at Kent County Memorial Hospital to be taken to
regional burn centers.
Private ambulances and rescue squads were 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.
The Warwick Fire Department sent three chaplains to the scene to comfort
victims. A green tarpaulin was erected to shield the front of the
building from spectators.
INFO HOTLINES:
For anyone who needs to inquire about a missing person, the state
Emergency Management Agency has set up a victims' hotline at (401)
462-7111.
Rhode Island Hospital has also set up two phone numbers for inquiries
about patients it is treating, at: (401) 444-4005 and (401) 444-3763.
-- With reports from staff writers Cathleen F. Crowley and Meaghan
Wims.
