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

[debster812]

I am suffering from news coverage burnout here as well.

It is sensless, tragic, preventable, and horrific. And they just keep showing it. Over and over again. I understand that it is news, but there are still many folks unaccounted for. There is a local rock station who was actually promoting this show. One of their DJs was the emcee at the show, and they still have not found him, nor heard from him. To hear these goofball DJs on the radio, trying to just hold it together and talk about this, was just gut wrenching.

So so sad.

 

[DebbieB]

I have a radio on my desk at work and they have news on the hour. I couldn't believe that each hour the total kept going up. I think it was 20 or 30 when I first heard it this morning and was up to 70 or 80 by the time I left. Really sad.

 

[Claudia1]

I have also seen a bit of footage taken from the outside, with piles of people in a doorway or window, stuck but screaming for help to get out.

Does anybody know if they were able to get out? It spread so quickly that I haven't heard if they made it. I think it would have been in poor taste to have shown the newtape if they didn't make it.

So horrible...... so very, very tragic. I don't have the words to express the horror.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

They miscounted...97 bodies found, not 96.

So far, no one who was rescued and brought to hospitals has died...all 97 were found in the rubble of the fire.

I have no idea about the people in the doorway on the tape. I've wondered that myself. I'm sure it's been difficult for all the families who've seen their missing loved ones on any of that tape.

 

[DebbieB]

I did see that tape and one time they showed firemen running over and pulling people out, so I bet they made it. It would be in bad taste if they didn't.

"Grandfathering" building codes is common. We had a large KMart in our area that was about 30 years old and didn't have a sprinkler system. A fire started one morning in the ceiling and it was totally engulfed in no time. I could see the smoke from my office downtown about 10 miles away. Luckily everyone got out. It would have been bad if someone got hurt because even the fire department said they were always worried about that building but couldn't do anything to force them to put a sprinkler system in. They didn't even have an automatic fire alarm! They put an evacuation order out over the PA system. I work in insurance and stories like that make me cringe.

 

[vald1977]

Originally posted by MaryAnnDVC

I have no idea about the people in the doorway on the tape. I've wondered that myself. I'm sure it's been difficult for all the families who've seen their missing loved ones on any of that tape.

I thought the same thing. Especially when they were showing the footage from the news team who taped the start of the concert. How many people saw their loved one on that tape knowing that they didn't come home that night? So very sad.

I just read that the guitarist from Great White has been identified as one of the dead. So far, they have identified 42 of the victims.