Terrible Fire in Rhode Island Nightclub...final death toll 97

[PandyPaws]

OMG. How terribly tragic and sad
This reminds me of the club fire at Gulliver's in Greenwich, CT back in the 70's. Many, many of my friends and schoolmates had lost older siblings in that fire My heart goes out to the victim's families in RI

 

[jan/cape]

This is just so tragic. A news station interviewed an employee of the club. She can't find her friend,another employe. She thinks she went to get her coat. oh so sad!
I was telling my daughter that this is the very reason to just get out. Never try to retrieve anything.
Prayers to everyone involved.

 

[SeaSpray]

That club looked exactly like the many clubs my DH and I used to go to back in the early-mid 80's. That could've been ANY club, anywhere... So tragic And to have the actual footage.... There was a local news team there filming due to what had happened in Chicago, they were doing a story just to show what the inside of a club looks like. How ironic is that?

 

[aprincessmom]

How ironic is that?

More irony...the reporter doing the story, Jeff Dedarian, is a co-owner of the nightclub with his brother.

 

[Liz]

What a tragedy. Fox reporting at least 54 dead.

Looking at the video, its just insane having those "sparkler" things with that low, low ceiling.

 

[jjskribs]

Death toll now listed as 60 and expected to rise. Warwick is close to Providence R.I. Local college students in my area often frequent R.I. clubs because it is apparently easy to get into many of these clubs with a false I.D. The news stations in my area are covering nothing but this tragic fire.

 

[grinningghost]

This is horrific.

 

[nativetxn]

How very sad and tragic

 

[vald1977]

This is so scary. We live about a half hour from Warwick and BIL lives very close (5-10 minutes) from this. I am just praying that no one I know was in that club. They said the place was engulfed in 3 minutes?? Those poor people never had a chance.

 

[kdibattista]

God... that is so incredibly sad

 

[CookieGVB]

Just awful.

 

[WillyJ]

What a nightmare!!


They are now saying there are 65 confirmed deaths and that there are definitely more- (one estimate is as many as 10 or 15 more fatalities). .

My heart goes out to the families and friends of those who lost their lives. .


Why would they permit igniting pyrotechnics in a relatively small club like that under any circumstances?????

 

[Lorix2]

RI news says that the "owners of the club will definitely be charged".

No sprinkler system b/c it was not required due to the age of the building.

Unfortunately, it's sad that some survivors that are hospitalized for burns will eventually succumb to their injuries

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Originally posted by WillyJ
Why would they permit igniting pyrotechnics in a relatively small club like that under any circumstances?????

I can't imagine, altho apparently it's been done there before. There's a lot of blame being thrown around now tho...the band claiming they had permission and it being up to the nightclub to get the necessary permits, and the owners saying they didn't know anything about the show including pyrotechnics.

A man that DH works with left work early...knows several injured or missing people.

 

[WillyJ]

The owner of the "Stone Pony", the club in Asbury Park, NJ that has long been Springsteens home base was just interviewed on Fox News. .

He claims the same band played in his club a few weeks ago and they set off the same pyrotechnics and did not ask permission or let the club owners know about if before hand. . .

But he was also asked if he had sprinklers in his club, and he said; "yes, for 29 years now. . "


Sounds like another tragedy where there is plenty of blame to go around, and one that could have and should been avoided. . .

 

[doxdogy]

What I don't understand why in the world the use of sprinkler systems is based on square footage? Makes absolutely no sense to me. I hope this changes the law. It should be mandatory for all buildings regardless of square footage. Saw the footage on the CBS news this evening. I feel so sorry for all the victims and their families. Such a tragic and senseless loss of lives. And why in sam hill would anyone want to use pyrotechnics indoors?

 

[sue Z]

It is just awful what happended to everyone there and the whole situation

But my biggest complaint is did the TV stations have to have at least 8 1/2 hours of coverage!! I was up at 4:40am and it was already on!!!!!!!!!! finally put the soaps on at 1pm I flet bad for the residnets where I work as they missed all their foavorite morning shows
!!!!!!!

 

[Serena]

This is so horribly sad. And I really hate that it didn't have to happen at all if some people had used their brains.

 

[PamOKW]

Sounds like the death toll is headed over 100. It's so sad how tragedy can strike in an instant. I heard one doctor saying that the injured face a greater risk from their inhalation injuries than the actual burns. It also didn't sound like he was very optimistic for their recovery.

 

[cinlee3]

This is just so sad and it was totally preventable. I feel for the families of those lost and injured. The fact that the band would even consider using pryotechnics in a building like this is unbelievable. It is criminal.