Death toll reaches 96 in Rhode Island nightclub blaze

By Michael Powell and Christopher Lee
Washington Post

WEST WARWICK, R.I. — At least 96 people burned to death here in a matter of minutes late Thursday as a roaring fire sparked by a heavy metal rock band's pyrotechnic show consumed an old, wood-frame nightclub in one of the worst such tragedies in the nation's history.

A man searching for a loved one breaks down at the scene of the blaze. Great White says the club knew of its plans for fireworks; club owners say otherwise. Associated Press

Many never made it out — firefighters found 25 bodies piled just inside the main entrance — and others got out only after they had become human balls of fire.

"I saw people running out engulfed in fire," said Mario Giamei, a stocky 38-year-old fan who ran out a side door.

Great White, a heavy metal band, had just launched into its first clanging chords when two pyrotechnic wheels began to spin on stage. Within 15 seconds, flames raced across the low-ceilinged club, black smoke billowed, and hundreds of panicked fans began to claw their way toward exits.

"We are a very small state, and this is a very great tragedy," Rhode Island Democratic Gov. Donald Carcieri said, as he stood across the street from the club's blackened remnants.

Yesterday, club owners said that Great White didn't have permission for the pyrotechnics show. But the band's lead singer and its management company told The Associated Press that the club had been informed of the plans for fireworks.

Fire officials said that neither the club nor the band had applied for the state certificates required to stage a pyrotechnic display. They added that they would never have granted such a certificate to the small club, called The Station.

"The very notion of pyrotechnics in the interior of a combustible building speaks for itself," said West Warwick Fire Chief Donald Hall.

State and federal fire officials said an investigation was under way and that criminal charges were possible, but they would not discuss details.

An attorney for the The Station's owners, brothers Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, said that the owners never would have agreed to the use of pyrotechnics in such a small space. Jeffrey Derderian was inside the club but escaped.

"No permission was ever requested by the band or its agents to use pyrotechnics at The Station," said the statement from attorney Kathleen Hagerty. "And no permission was ever given."

At least one longtime customer, however, said that it wasn't the first time he'd seen pyrotechnics in The Station.

Chris Travis said that at a concert at the nightclub last November or December, a band used a small display that set off a small fire.

"A member of the staff came up with a fire extinguisher and put it out right away," Travis said. "I didn't think anything of it."

Lead singer Jack Russell said the band's managers had told the club that pyrotechnics were part of the show.

And, the AP quoted Paul Woolnough, president of Manic Music Management and Knight Records, the band's managers, as saying, "the tour manager always checks that (pyrotechnics are) able to be used and that the club authorizes it. If there's any issue at all, then it isn't used."

The band had been scheduled to play at Jaxx in Springfield, Va., last night. Club owner Jay Nedry said Great White's tour manager asked about allowing pyrotechnics and "I told him no, we don't allow it." He said the band has played the club 15 times since 1989 without fireworks.

But Great White had set off similar pyrotechnics twice in the past month. On Feb. 7 in Florida at Pinellas Expo Center, they ignited pyrotechnics. The manager, Tim Bryant, said the band never told him of its intent.

But, Bryant added, the center had 30-foot-high ceilings, and the band played without incident.

On Feb. 14, the band used pyrotechnics again, this time at the Stone Pony nightclub in Asbury Park, N.J., a place made famous by Bruce Springsteen. That club's owner, Domenic Santana, said he never allows such fireworks in his club, and expressly prohibits it in the contract with the bands.

"We do not allow pyrotechnics because of our ceiling height," said Santana.

In Great White's case, Santana said, his stage manager ran over as soon as the fireworks went off.

The manager said, "You cannot do this here. You basically have to leave," Santana said. "They argued back and forth, they stopped the pyros, and the show went on."

In Rhode Island, Great White apparently used a common form of pyrotechnics known as a gerb, a cardboard casing filled with premixed chemicals, including one similar to gunpowder. It spins and shoots sparks that are not supposed to be hot enough to burn a person but can set fire to flammable materials. The band was using a "gerb fan," a trio of gerbs pointing in different directions.

Zach Percell, owner of Z11 Pyro Supply, said that gerbs are generally used in large arenas and stadium shows.

"It's a pretty large effect to use in a club that size," said Percell, referring to The Station.

The nightclub apparently had the required number of fire extinguishers, fire officials said. The building did not have sprinklers. Under Rhode Island law, only buildings erected after 1974 are required to have sprinklers. The nightclub was constructed in the late 1950s as a restaurant.

It was, Fire Chief Hall said, a fatal, if legal, flaw.

"If there were sprinklers in that building, we wouldn't be standing here now," he said.