God doesn't allow anything like this to happen. He gave humans freewill and when we choose to do something stupid, this is what happens. Innocent lives are lost because someone took the cheap way out of something. Think about that. Remember, if there is good, there is evil. Instead of blaming the good, blame the evil.
There's so much blame to go around here. The foam company didn't provide what it claimed to provide, so there's their chunk of the responsibility. The building didn't have the sprinklers required by law once it was converted into a nightclub, so there's the owner(s), manager(s), fire department, and code inspectors. The building was at nearly 150% capacity, so there's the managers again. Pyrotechnics, obviously, so the band manager. All in all, a true worst case scenario.
@cubfan531 Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought The Station was built around the 40's and has always been a place for entertainment. I think it was a big military hangout back then. You're absolutely right in that there's alot of blame to go around, but let's not leave the band out of it. Wouldn't it be common sense to not set off "fireworks" in a bar with 8 foot ceilings? The Station was grandfathered in and didn'[t have to comply with current fire codes.
@gymratlu99 part 2. So I guess no sprinklers, poorly located fire extiguishers, doors that opened inward, and a blocked off exit... was acceptable and didn't need to be upgraded. Oh, lets not forget the polyurethane soundproofing the manager bought instead of the slightly more expensive fire retardant version. Now RI has the strictest fire code in the country if not the world that Japan is modeling theirs after. I used to live not 3 miles from there. Very sad. Could've been avoided
people keep saying the families need justice. Sending the pyro guy or anyone else to prison is not justice ... the whole point of tragedies like this is that there can never be justice - because it was an accident. Yes you can pin it to many people due carelessness, but ultimately it just ends there. nothing can compensate for this kind of catastrophe.
I don't think one person can be blamed for this, no one would intend this to happen - the guys in charge of safety, building maintenance, manager, pyro technician etc were collaboratively ignorant and unaware - but what's done is done, it was unfortunate - I think living with the guilt of not doing their job properly is enough, no need for jail.
What a terrible tragedy. My condolences to everyone that lost someone special to them. Also my heart goes out to everyone that was injured. One minute you are enjoying the time of your life and the next minute you are fighting for it. I couldn`t imagine what those poor people went through :(
none of the families & friends of the victims got any true justice
my heart breaks 4 those families & friends of the victims knowing that all some one got was 4 years in jail 4 over 100 deaths !! this shit sickens me & pisses me the fuck off!!
It's a tragedy any way we choose to look at this, The fact there wasn"t sprinklers when igniting those fire works is disturbing in it"s self, not to mention there wasn"t enough exits too!
I feel sick at the lose and painful death these people endured!
obviously the one owner was sentenced to 4 yrs jail time....
@mookixox Finally someone who tells it like it is. Lets face it, most of those people were atheists/satanists; and I noticed the same thing. I dont wish this upon anyone, though it is ironic that were giving the flames of hell satanic gesture with their fingers. I did discover something new. If you look a the concert film at 1:20 the guys arm bursts into flame. Cotton self ignites at 765 degrees.
@mookixox wow, so you must be a christian? what a great attitude you have to seeing young people die. If being a Christian means people are like you, then god help us all.
@Squeeze801 Christian or not, this tragedy happen for a reason. These young people die for reasons that be, that I don't know about. Tragedies happen for a reason and we should learn from them. But people are to much into themselves and we don't learn anything from the past. Some people question why did God allow this? Good question. Ask Him and maybe you'll get a answer.
@AJuarez764 How many times does He have to answer, before you and other people get it? Do you or anyone else think this was God's original plan? Disease and death were not in His plan. It was a paradise at one time. Until we (mankind) ruined it by the decisions we made. Murder,rape and disease are man's doing, not God's. We always look for someone to blame when we need to look into a mirror. Why does He allow it to continue.I dont know. He is more knowlegable than I,I trust theres a reason
@SteveWard3928 If you acknowledge there is a reason why god allows human suffering to continue, as you put it, then you are also acknowledging that it is a part of this god's plan. If god is all knowing then god must have known that humans would commit horrible atrocities like murder, rape etc. yet he "created" us anyway so therefore this all must be part of his plan. And diseases are not "man's doing", they're caused by all kinds of things from viruses to bacteria.
@bart666a all the doors opened in not out. so your pushing and the door opn in thats why . there was a double door behind the stage locked it also open . if all the door open by just pushing most would have gotten out. as for the foam. i know for a FACT one of the brother pesonaly installed it with someone who i know worked there. he told me they knew the FOAM was only sound proof. not fire proof. the reason i was also told to save a few buck fo self instilation .
damn my cousin carlos pimentel sr. 38 of west warwick. died in this fire. i was on the news the next day cryinq becasue they could not find him. they later found his remains and said he was qone. i was 8 and im 15 now. in 3 days it will be 7 years. and imma lose my mind just thinkin about him. he was my best friend. the birthday parties we had with the family. the cake fiqht everythinq. yu will never be forqotten Carlos. i love you so much. Rest In Paradise. 11.20.1964 - 02.20.2k3. I Love you.
I was in Newbury Comics in Warwick earlier this week and I saw a Great White CD on the shelf. I can't believe they would even consider selling that. The Station Nightclub was literally right around the corner.
The owners were friendly with the fire inspecters. Also, it used to be a restaurant and was a grease trap. It was the fault of the owners and the officials.
@HEREclickPlease you are 100% correct. aleast one of the brothers lied on to major issues. first. they stated they did not know the FOAM was no fire safe and they did not install it. B.S. they installed the FOAM with the person i know . and said they did not know i was only sound proof. also about over filling the place they denied . moe b.s . someone who played in the band told me pesonally. by one nof the brother to put all the extra money in his pocket for all the extra tickets .
Check this out. I was stationed in groton, ct when this happened and me and 2 of my boys were gonna go to this but we decided to keep it local instead. f***ing crazy. 100 people died...please God let them rest in piece.
the weird thing is, the day of this my parents and i rode by and my dad was saying how he used to work there and how the ceilings were very low. Later that day i was woken up and told there was a huge fire in warwick. I was 8 at the time
what were you thinking when all this was going on? were you outside? were you thinking that many people were already dead or dying or were you like.."its going to be ok"? just curious..thats all. this is horrible..just plain horrible...
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The two brothers did not deserve such great punishment. The grief that they had to go through was enough in knowing so many people died. The clip of the one brother crying afterward in grief was the saddest thing i ever saw in my life.
Absolute tragedy. The doors opened the opposite way and it was too dark. They thought they were locked in or trapped. People were being trampled to death. Bodies on top of bodies right near the door and hallway. It was horriffic. The fire spread so quickly due to a flameable foam material used around the club walls & ceilings. You can only pray the smoke killed them before the trampling and flames. God has them now in his hands. R.I.P. Tragedy.
@saveusrecycle Nope, the flames got them first. At 1:20 a guys right arm bursts into flame. Cotton self ignites at 765 degrees. That is how hot it was.
r u kidding me? 100 people died...200 injured. There were people piled in the doorways on top of each other for trying to get out...the firefighters were pulling bodies and pieces were coming off in their hands. The bodies piled in the doorways were just too much to handle. People suffocated this way. One person survived on the bottom as he/she was lying on their side so their lungs weren't compressed. It was a major tragedy and felt strongly to this day. No on got hurt...r u kidding me?
wow, you have alot of anger. I wish you the best and hope the internet is your place to vent and you are shy and acward in society as most internet shit talkers are.
=(=(=(=(=( the problem was they only had 1 doorway millions of people tried to get out there... thousands did... but thousand didnt... understandably the only people that got out had 2 push and shove people the people that got trampled are now dead=( no one can be blamed 4 trying to get out as fast as they could but still=(
The club held around 350 people that night. 100 people died. 31 people died in that doorway lobby. There were other exits. The one in the back was blocked by a bouncer--"For the bands only" supposedly, according to one report. The channel 2 footage (which I saw in its entirety) shows the back doorway as empty!
There is another video that shows the band start playing all the way up to a few minutes after the fire started and the guy did go around to the back and there was a doorway there that wasn't being used. it didn't have much fire at the time but it could have when the fire broke out. Hard to tell.
That exit at this point in time in the video was to engulfed in smoke in flames to be used, You can see the smoke extends down to about a few inches off the floor. Nobody can get through that.
Get your facts right. There weren't "millions" or "thousands" of people. There were about 400. It's still a tragedy nontheless; about 100 died with another 100 being injured.
The reason why the fire personnel are gathered at the front entrance is not because they having a conversation. It is because they are shifting through the pile of bodies in that little /entrance/exit hallway where the ticket guy stand. They did find a few survivors in the pile. 31 people died in that little front hallway.
Hey, at 3:03 the guy on the stretcher sitting up is Mike Vargus. I am still to this day amazed that this guy was at the bottom of the pile near the entrance and lived with only minor burns.. Talk about luck...
Not exactly minor burns. He suffered a number of third degree burns to his left leg and burns on his scalp, but yeah, in comparison, nothing serious. His full name's Raul Michael Vargas.
It wasn't just that he was fortunate enough to be shielded by the "pile" above him. He was also able to ensure his breathing by rolling onto his side. Had he remained on his stomach the weight of the pile would have asphyxiated him.
This is really horrible. I'm still shaking from the video I saw in the wikipedia section (under: West Warwick, RI). They have a video there from the whole thing from the begining and those people screaming while they burned alive. I remember seeing a small news segment a while back about this, but now i understand the horrific, very avoidable tragedy that this is.
I happened to have a blank vhs tape in my camcorder when the news first came on and got footage they never show anymore, with the people jammed against the door. I can't even watch it. I remember the TV crew saying " this is unedited" They should have not shot this scene until later or put a delay on it.
hey man, i also saw that footage, this was back in 2002 or 2003. i was living in italy at the time, so i saw that horrible footage of the people piled in the doorway, with that thick black smoke rushing passed them. with the time difference in europe i was watching cnn at like 4:30 in the morning, i was really wasted and wasn't ever sure if i actually saw what i saw. the scene was horrible, and i thought really irresponsible of cnn to show it.
I know the road-manager and band are full of remorse, but WHY did this happen? Lighting gerbs just a few feet below foam rubber was crazy. The inevitable happened. For the record, Great White were very mediocre.
my views on this is that there was only one person responsible. the jackass that set up pyros in that area and set them off. not budwiser, not a foam co. not club mngrs. and surly not great white. only one mans finger was on that trigger. only one man set that gun in place. the band hired this guy because he was a pro, it was his decision that this whole thing hinged on.
I'm inclined to agree that he was the real culprit. He's in jail until March, I believe, but, as the judge said, his real sentence is his huge self-loathing. That's a life-sentence. However, surely one member of the band could've said, "That's a bad idea!" I was in a band that stopped playing an outdoor gig due to an electric storm, and I remember telling people not to stand under trees in case of lightning. Some people think rock'n'roll is all that matters; it isn't.
@olauf1 Yeah but the club owners installed the foam to cut corners. Also they weren't required to I heard but a sprinkler system would have avoided this whole mess too.
@olauf1 Baloney to your whole post. You are an idiot to state club managers do not have responsibility to insure or check that any pyros in the club are safe. You are an idiot to state the Band does not have responsibility to insure one of their employees makes responsible decisions to insure safety inside the club. No one is without blame here.
@olauf1 I know that your post is 3 years old but "BS" to your remarks. You are an idiot to state club managers do not have responsibility to insure or check that any pyros used by a band in the club are safe. You are an idiot to state the Band does not have responsibility to insure one of their employees makes responsible decisions to insure safety inside the club. Everyone with the band and the club is to blame here.
@olauf1 Don't forget that the sound tiles were extremely flammable and the nightclub was very very old and made of wood. The reports I read made it sound like the place was kindling.
@olauf1 No way was it only his fault. Pyrotechnics like this are used all the time. The ONLY reason the fire spread like it did was because the people who owned the building didn't have it up to code. Simulations and recreations of the event showed that if they had, then the fire would have been out in less than a minute. Even the victims families agreed that Biechele wasn't to blame, saying he was just a "scapegoat" and the people who owned that death trap of a building were the ones to blame.
really sobering. Having been there many times,. I felt like I was part of this pain. The first time I went in there was in the last 70s when was PAPPA BRILLOS. I distinctly remember, how claustrophobic I felt with the low ceilings and grungy atmosphere. I felt weird in there way back then. RIP 100
Wow, funny you say that cuz I was last at the Station about 13 years ago when it was The Filling Station and I got a 'weird' feeling when I was in there, too.... very dark, all wood, low ceilings, very claustrophobic. I didn't know it at the time but I was standing in a place where people would later die. Very very sad!!!!!!
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A great band? Great White: Once famous, twice not anymore...babe. C'mon, that band sucks!
The real shame is that those people died after hearing those assclowns. Imagine listening to that crap while trying to escape a burning building. It was the owner's fault.
God doesn't allow anything like this to happen. He gave humans freewill and when we choose to do something stupid, this is what happens. Innocent lives are lost because someone took the cheap way out of something. Think about that. Remember, if there is good, there is evil. Instead of blaming the good, blame the evil.
hmcgill911 4 weeks ago
@hmcgill911 thats because the manager of the band was being stupid and deicde d to have fire works that arent suppose to be allowed in a bar
JBLovesJessicas 1 week ago
@JBLovesJessicas Exactly!! God didn't do this, people did.
hmcgill911 1 week ago
@JBLovesJessicas being it 9 years you would think that manager 's of any band would get that through their heads!
JBLovesJessicas 1 week ago
pyro should NEEEEVER be used indoors ppl have known that for YEARS! and whoever made the decision to put pyro is responsible
Supersaiiyin 1 month ago
There's so much blame to go around here. The foam company didn't provide what it claimed to provide, so there's their chunk of the responsibility. The building didn't have the sprinklers required by law once it was converted into a nightclub, so there's the owner(s), manager(s), fire department, and code inspectors. The building was at nearly 150% capacity, so there's the managers again. Pyrotechnics, obviously, so the band manager. All in all, a true worst case scenario.
cubfan531 1 month ago
@cubfan531 but one thing they remember is they put fire alarms inside!
JBLovesJessicas 3 weeks ago
@cubfan531 Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought The Station was built around the 40's and has always been a place for entertainment. I think it was a big military hangout back then. You're absolutely right in that there's alot of blame to go around, but let's not leave the band out of it. Wouldn't it be common sense to not set off "fireworks" in a bar with 8 foot ceilings? The Station was grandfathered in and didn'[t have to comply with current fire codes.
gymratlu99 2 days ago
@gymratlu99 part 2. So I guess no sprinklers, poorly located fire extiguishers, doors that opened inward, and a blocked off exit... was acceptable and didn't need to be upgraded. Oh, lets not forget the polyurethane soundproofing the manager bought instead of the slightly more expensive fire retardant version. Now RI has the strictest fire code in the country if not the world that Japan is modeling theirs after. I used to live not 3 miles from there. Very sad. Could've been avoided
gymratlu99 2 days ago
So once the fire department starting bringing people out......they only found 4 alive? I wonder how many were brought out alive?
SteveWard3928 2 months ago
this is so horrible,those poor poor people,im glad u made it out
kittykatt03176708 2 months ago in playlist More videos from olauf1
people keep saying the families need justice. Sending the pyro guy or anyone else to prison is not justice ... the whole point of tragedies like this is that there can never be justice - because it was an accident. Yes you can pin it to many people due carelessness, but ultimately it just ends there. nothing can compensate for this kind of catastrophe.
ailsaizzylouisiana 8 months ago
I don't think one person can be blamed for this, no one would intend this to happen - the guys in charge of safety, building maintenance, manager, pyro technician etc were collaboratively ignorant and unaware - but what's done is done, it was unfortunate - I think living with the guilt of not doing their job properly is enough, no need for jail.
ailsaizzylouisiana 8 months ago
Dear Lord. I will never forget this. Bless them all~
visionofluv 11 months ago
What a terrible tragedy. My condolences to everyone that lost someone special to them. Also my heart goes out to everyone that was injured. One minute you are enjoying the time of your life and the next minute you are fighting for it. I couldn`t imagine what those poor people went through :(
bobbyricigliano 11 months ago
The person that started the Pyros is the one that should go to jail forever That concert placer is to small for that he is guilty as hell!
germagic2 1 year ago
none of the families & friends of the victims got any true justice
my heart breaks 4 those families & friends of the victims knowing that all some one got was 4 years in jail 4 over 100 deaths !! this shit sickens me & pisses me the fuck off!!
slipknotlover89 1 year ago
It's a tragedy any way we choose to look at this, The fact there wasn"t sprinklers when igniting those fire works is disturbing in it"s self, not to mention there wasn"t enough exits too!
I feel sick at the lose and painful death these people endured!
obviously the one owner was sentenced to 4 yrs jail time....
evelove1958 1 year ago
what makes ne sick is you guys commenting on it...
severyn1982 1 year ago
Who the fuck would go to a Great White concert? They suck
tittyj2020 1 year ago
@tittyj2020 Fortunately...mostly Athiests!
mookixox 1 year ago
@mookixox Finally someone who tells it like it is. Lets face it, most of those people were atheists/satanists; and I noticed the same thing. I dont wish this upon anyone, though it is ironic that were giving the flames of hell satanic gesture with their fingers. I did discover something new. If you look a the concert film at 1:20 the guys arm bursts into flame. Cotton self ignites at 765 degrees.
analyzingfunny 1 year ago
@mookixox wow, so you must be a christian? what a great attitude you have to seeing young people die. If being a Christian means people are like you, then god help us all.
Squeeze801 1 year ago
@Squeeze801 Christian or not, this tragedy happen for a reason. These young people die for reasons that be, that I don't know about. Tragedies happen for a reason and we should learn from them. But people are to much into themselves and we don't learn anything from the past. Some people question why did God allow this? Good question. Ask Him and maybe you'll get a answer.
AJuarez764 3 months ago
@AJuarez764 How many times does He have to answer, before you and other people get it? Do you or anyone else think this was God's original plan? Disease and death were not in His plan. It was a paradise at one time. Until we (mankind) ruined it by the decisions we made. Murder,rape and disease are man's doing, not God's. We always look for someone to blame when we need to look into a mirror. Why does He allow it to continue.I dont know. He is more knowlegable than I,I trust theres a reason
SteveWard3928 2 months ago
@SteveWard3928 If you acknowledge there is a reason why god allows human suffering to continue, as you put it, then you are also acknowledging that it is a part of this god's plan. If god is all knowing then god must have known that humans would commit horrible atrocities like murder, rape etc. yet he "created" us anyway so therefore this all must be part of his plan. And diseases are not "man's doing", they're caused by all kinds of things from viruses to bacteria.
derekxnl 2 months ago
@derekxnl with the exeption of "Lyme Disease" . (man's creation)
gymratlu99 2 days ago
@SteveWard3928 You made some good points here. But some points you comment on do have answer and just looking for the truth.
AJuarez764 3 weeks ago
@tittyj2020 I agree they do suck big time
Midnightryder7 9 months ago
they all tried to get out the same door. fuked up
bart666a 1 year ago
@bart666a all the doors opened in not out. so your pushing and the door opn in thats why . there was a double door behind the stage locked it also open . if all the door open by just pushing most would have gotten out. as for the foam. i know for a FACT one of the brother pesonaly installed it with someone who i know worked there. he told me they knew the FOAM was only sound proof. not fire proof. the reason i was also told to save a few buck fo self instilation .
46singledad46 1 year ago
where is my husband who said this
adaadam29 1 year ago
damn my cousin carlos pimentel sr. 38 of west warwick. died in this fire. i was on the news the next day cryinq becasue they could not find him. they later found his remains and said he was qone. i was 8 and im 15 now. in 3 days it will be 7 years. and imma lose my mind just thinkin about him. he was my best friend. the birthday parties we had with the family. the cake fiqht everythinq. yu will never be forqotten Carlos. i love you so much. Rest In Paradise. 11.20.1964 - 02.20.2k3. I Love you.
xoamberleaox 2 years ago
I was in Newbury Comics in Warwick earlier this week and I saw a Great White CD on the shelf. I can't believe they would even consider selling that. The Station Nightclub was literally right around the corner.
Fanik8 2 years ago
@Fanik8
Maybe because this wasnt the band's fault, it was the owners' fault.
mapex7066 2 years ago
not the band directly but Dan Bieclie the tour manager lit the pyrotechnics.
Fanik8 2 years ago
The owners were friendly with the fire inspecters. Also, it used to be a restaurant and was a grease trap. It was the fault of the owners and the officials.
HEREclickPlease 2 years ago
@HEREclickPlease you are 100% correct. aleast one of the brothers lied on to major issues. first. they stated they did not know the FOAM was no fire safe and they did not install it. B.S. they installed the FOAM with the person i know . and said they did not know i was only sound proof. also about over filling the place they denied . moe b.s . someone who played in the band told me pesonally. by one nof the brother to put all the extra money in his pocket for all the extra tickets .
46singledad46 1 year ago
dam! its like the place was made out of card board..
ltuomela 2 years ago
Check this out. I was stationed in groton, ct when this happened and me and 2 of my boys were gonna go to this but we decided to keep it local instead. f***ing crazy. 100 people died...please God let them rest in piece.
zbrusky 2 years ago
I think the stretcher at 3:36 had Gina Gershwin on it. She was the last survivor to be pulled out.
MistofSolaris 2 years ago
Gina Gauvin
rfalfonse 2 years ago
How sad all the cars of the people inside, there to have a good time, hang out with friends and listen to music. Awful.
dancyn29 2 years ago
the weird thing is, the day of this my parents and i rode by and my dad was saying how he used to work there and how the ceilings were very low. Later that day i was woken up and told there was a huge fire in warwick. I was 8 at the time
asskakakaka 2 years ago
I can't look at this video knowing there were so many people dying at that very moment. It's a sad place to visit. I lived right around the corner.
nychik64 3 years ago
what were you thinking when all this was going on? were you outside? were you thinking that many people were already dead or dying or were you like.."its going to be ok"? just curious..thats all. this is horrible..just plain horrible...
elsoda 3 years ago
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She was thinking about roasting some marshmellows.
jcane28eatsfatpuss 2 years ago
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The two brothers did not deserve such great punishment. The grief that they had to go through was enough in knowing so many people died. The clip of the one brother crying afterward in grief was the saddest thing i ever saw in my life.
hermit71 3 years ago
Absolute tragedy. The doors opened the opposite way and it was too dark. They thought they were locked in or trapped. People were being trampled to death. Bodies on top of bodies right near the door and hallway. It was horriffic. The fire spread so quickly due to a flameable foam material used around the club walls & ceilings. You can only pray the smoke killed them before the trampling and flames. God has them now in his hands. R.I.P. Tragedy.
saveusrecycle 3 years ago
@saveusrecycle Nope, the flames got them first. At 1:20 a guys right arm bursts into flame. Cotton self ignites at 765 degrees. That is how hot it was.
analyzingfunny 1 year ago
so sad
skywatch008 3 years ago
r u kidding me? 100 people died...200 injured. There were people piled in the doorways on top of each other for trying to get out...the firefighters were pulling bodies and pieces were coming off in their hands. The bodies piled in the doorways were just too much to handle. People suffocated this way. One person survived on the bottom as he/she was lying on their side so their lungs weren't compressed. It was a major tragedy and felt strongly to this day. No on got hurt...r u kidding me?
robinw60 3 years ago 2
hey asshole, 98 people died that night, two people died from injuries in the hospital, get your facts right.
soulmankc 3 years ago
96 die in fire 4 die in hospital
pokedude2005 3 years ago 4
pokedude is rite retard
thibs12345 3 years ago
wth? wat did i do?
pokedude2005 3 years ago
wow, you have alot of anger. I wish you the best and hope the internet is your place to vent and you are shy and acward in society as most internet shit talkers are.
cheezta 3 years ago
100 people died
asskakakaka 3 years ago
I hear ya but I don't hear ya, ya know what I'm sayin?
I read what you wrote about being armed with facts, but at the same time, I didn't read what you wrote either...ya know what I'm sayin?
We're just stupid like that, right?
What do ya say me and you get together and be stupid together?
We'll go out unto the land, talking about things we don't know about?
wonderdrift 3 years ago
=(=(=(=(=( the problem was they only had 1 doorway millions of people tried to get out there... thousands did... but thousand didnt... understandably the only people that got out had 2 push and shove people the people that got trampled are now dead=( no one can be blamed 4 trying to get out as fast as they could but still=(
bwcri 4 years ago
The club held around 350 people that night. 100 people died. 31 people died in that doorway lobby. There were other exits. The one in the back was blocked by a bouncer--"For the bands only" supposedly, according to one report. The channel 2 footage (which I saw in its entirety) shows the back doorway as empty!
I studied this event recently.
wonderdrift 4 years ago 2
There is another video that shows the band start playing all the way up to a few minutes after the fire started and the guy did go around to the back and there was a doorway there that wasn't being used. it didn't have much fire at the time but it could have when the fire broke out. Hard to tell.
jmitchell67060 3 years ago
That exit at this point in time in the video was to engulfed in smoke in flames to be used, You can see the smoke extends down to about a few inches off the floor. Nobody can get through that.
jsncrso 3 years ago
wasnt there a locked door that led to the ally way to?
thibs12345 3 years ago
Get your facts right. There weren't "millions" or "thousands" of people. There were about 400. It's still a tragedy nontheless; about 100 died with another 100 being injured.
DSP222 4 years ago 2
Naaa....
I think there were millions of people there.
It took decades for everyone to get out.
I know there were at least 100,000 firemen there.
wonderdrift 3 years ago
The reason why the fire personnel are gathered at the front entrance is not because they having a conversation. It is because they are shifting through the pile of bodies in that little /entrance/exit hallway where the ticket guy stand. They did find a few survivors in the pile. 31 people died in that little front hallway.
Very very sad situation.
wonderdrift 4 years ago
Hey, at 3:03 the guy on the stretcher sitting up is Mike Vargus. I am still to this day amazed that this guy was at the bottom of the pile near the entrance and lived with only minor burns.. Talk about luck...
kathryn120 4 years ago 9
Not exactly minor burns. He suffered a number of third degree burns to his left leg and burns on his scalp, but yeah, in comparison, nothing serious. His full name's Raul Michael Vargas.
It wasn't just that he was fortunate enough to be shielded by the "pile" above him. He was also able to ensure his breathing by rolling onto his side. Had he remained on his stomach the weight of the pile would have asphyxiated him.
rfalfonse 2 years ago
i use to play there,its a terrible story,i always thought that great white would of been held more responible,
evelskunny 4 years ago
This is really horrible. I'm still shaking from the video I saw in the wikipedia section (under: West Warwick, RI). They have a video there from the whole thing from the begining and those people screaming while they burned alive. I remember seeing a small news segment a while back about this, but now i understand the horrific, very avoidable tragedy that this is.
FatHoElderlyCenter 4 years ago
I happened to have a blank vhs tape in my camcorder when the news first came on and got footage they never show anymore, with the people jammed against the door. I can't even watch it. I remember the TV crew saying " this is unedited" They should have not shot this scene until later or put a delay on it.
PYRAMIDALIZEE 4 years ago
hey man, i also saw that footage, this was back in 2002 or 2003. i was living in italy at the time, so i saw that horrible footage of the people piled in the doorway, with that thick black smoke rushing passed them. with the time difference in europe i was watching cnn at like 4:30 in the morning, i was really wasted and wasn't ever sure if i actually saw what i saw. the scene was horrible, and i thought really irresponsible of cnn to show it.
loknloll 4 years ago
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The owners and the band should have been thrown in that fire! To this day I will not listen to Great White's music!
jimmyhd1969 4 years ago
I know the road-manager and band are full of remorse, but WHY did this happen? Lighting gerbs just a few feet below foam rubber was crazy. The inevitable happened. For the record, Great White were very mediocre.
Tibbenham 4 years ago 2
my views on this is that there was only one person responsible. the jackass that set up pyros in that area and set them off. not budwiser, not a foam co. not club mngrs. and surly not great white. only one mans finger was on that trigger. only one man set that gun in place. the band hired this guy because he was a pro, it was his decision that this whole thing hinged on.
olauf1 4 years ago 2
I'm inclined to agree that he was the real culprit. He's in jail until March, I believe, but, as the judge said, his real sentence is his huge self-loathing. That's a life-sentence. However, surely one member of the band could've said, "That's a bad idea!" I was in a band that stopped playing an outdoor gig due to an electric storm, and I remember telling people not to stand under trees in case of lightning. Some people think rock'n'roll is all that matters; it isn't.
Tibbenham 4 years ago
@olauf1 Nope. The only party responsible for this is the State. The allowed this to happen. Period.
MicrosoftNukesTerror 1 year ago
@olauf1 Yeah but the club owners installed the foam to cut corners. Also they weren't required to I heard but a sprinkler system would have avoided this whole mess too.
BDOUG23 1 year ago
@olauf1 Baloney to your whole post. You are an idiot to state club managers do not have responsibility to insure or check that any pyros in the club are safe. You are an idiot to state the Band does not have responsibility to insure one of their employees makes responsible decisions to insure safety inside the club. No one is without blame here.
GOODY61 11 months ago
@olauf1 I know that your post is 3 years old but "BS" to your remarks. You are an idiot to state club managers do not have responsibility to insure or check that any pyros used by a band in the club are safe. You are an idiot to state the Band does not have responsibility to insure one of their employees makes responsible decisions to insure safety inside the club. Everyone with the band and the club is to blame here.
GOODY61 11 months ago
@olauf1 Don't forget that the sound tiles were extremely flammable and the nightclub was very very old and made of wood. The reports I read made it sound like the place was kindling.
MsMercury 9 months ago
@olauf1 No way was it only his fault. Pyrotechnics like this are used all the time. The ONLY reason the fire spread like it did was because the people who owned the building didn't have it up to code. Simulations and recreations of the event showed that if they had, then the fire would have been out in less than a minute. Even the victims families agreed that Biechele wasn't to blame, saying he was just a "scapegoat" and the people who owned that death trap of a building were the ones to blame.
derekxnl 2 months ago 2
really sobering. Having been there many times,. I felt like I was part of this pain. The first time I went in there was in the last 70s when was PAPPA BRILLOS. I distinctly remember, how claustrophobic I felt with the low ceilings and grungy atmosphere. I felt weird in there way back then. RIP 100
PYRAMIDALIZEE 4 years ago
Wow, funny you say that cuz I was last at the Station about 13 years ago when it was The Filling Station and I got a 'weird' feeling when I was in there, too.... very dark, all wood, low ceilings, very claustrophobic. I didn't know it at the time but I was standing in a place where people would later die. Very very sad!!!!!!
Vanasse1 4 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
A great band? Great White: Once famous, twice not anymore...babe. C'mon, that band sucks!
The real shame is that those people died after hearing those assclowns. Imagine listening to that crap while trying to escape a burning building. It was the owner's fault.
DIZZZZY1975 4 years ago
What an utterly crass and tasteless post.
Tober138 4 years ago
Hindsight is 20/20.
Anyway this video needs no further comment. It is sobering, depressing, it speaks loudly yet no words are clearly said.
Who do you get angry with? All involved are remorseful. A great band is now known even more, but for the wrong reasons.
Rest in Peace, 100.
batvette 4 years ago
A tragic loss that could have been prevented!
scrapmom65 4 years ago