The Station Nightclub Investigation

751 Words2 Pages

SUMMARY OF INCIDENT
On the night of February 20th 2003, 80’s rock and roll band Great White was performing a concert at The Station, a night club located in West Warwick, Rhode Island. During the beginning moments of their show, their manager who was operating the pyrotechnics set off a round of fireworks. This round of pyrotechnics ignited the acoustic foam of the night club and started a blaze that engulfed the club in less than 6 minutes. The night club had a building permit capacity for 200 people. At the time of the fire the club was more than double the permit limit at over 440 people inside viewing the show. Minutes after the flames engulfed the night club billowing smoke hindered escape, this caused a panic as concert goers started running toward the front exit, even though the club had 3 other exits, everyone was focused on the front exit. That many people focused on one exit resulted in a biomass that created a traffic jam and many of the victims died in or near the front hallway or were crushed as everyone tried to escape. All totaled 100 people died and 230 were injured. The injuries varied but included smoke inhalation, burns and injuries from being trampled.
The Station night club was built in 1946 and used as a restaurant, tavern and various other night clubs over the years until a fire in 1972. It was repaired in 1985 and changed hands until in 1991 when the current owners of the Station took over. The Station night club is a wood framed structure. It had windows located on the north and east side of the building. There are small windows in the bathrooms and office located on the south wall. The building has four exits; the main entrance, one exit near the stage, one by the bar, and the forth exit is located in ...

... middle of paper ...

...rces to aide in emergency response effectiveness.

RELATED STUDIES ON RECOMMENDATIONS

Chapter 7 Means of Egress; I feel that Chapter 7 relates best with recommendation number 5. In chapter 7 means of egress, gross floor area, net floor area and the calculations used for determining maximum occupant load for a room or area and what exits are required are discussed.
Chapter 8 Interior Finish Requirements; I felt related best with Recommendation 3. Chapter 8 teaches what building elements are regulated, test methods used to classify interior elements and the need to regulate interior finishes based on previous fires.

References:

http://online.columbiasouthern.edu/csu_content/courses/emergency_services/bfs/bfs4432/f05032.pdf

Diamantes, D. (2007). Fire prevention inspection and code enforcement. (3rd ed.).Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.

Open Document