Great White Offers $1M to Settle Fatal Fire Suit

[opsvideo2008]

The club building was not up to fire prevention requirements, no functioning water sprinklers, nobody saw the potential fire danger of indoor pyrotechnics, the guests not allowed to leave through other exit doors except the main one, etc... This nightclub fire is the perfect storm.

[tmthord]

very sad

[motleycrue24]

i can believe the have fuckin commercials on a video like this soon every video will fuck!!!

[pippetto888]

people trapped at exit=natural selection

[pippetto888]

online the video most  horrific ever is maniac dneproproposky murder

[depletable]

@pippetto888 True.

[thispagesux]

pyrotechnics + low ceiling = catostrophic fail

[motleycrue24]

@thispagesux dont you think thats kinda obvious

[thispagesux]

@motleycrue24, you would think it would be obvious to everyone!

[WARLOCK70]

Always something to screw it up for the rest of us.

[thomasandtanga]

The should sing an old Twisted Sister song " The Fire !!!!! Still Burns"

[garycalgary]

the club looked overcrowded for one thing.

i have never seen pyrotechnics at a concert so that should have been their first clue

[angelicque777]

I remember these pyro canisters sitting in my hall way by the living room... My ex-husband was the or is the drummer in the band... I don't remember the guy who did jail time... He wasnt around when the pyros were in my house but i remember the fireworks sitting there.

[mrhiway420]

0:57 ...bouncer has a cig hangin outta his mouth GEESH!

[smackythefrog23]

that wasnt the bouncer, that was the roadie in charge of the pyro.

[lem1968a1]

1 million divded by 300 sueing hmm The band should be in jail for life. even though it was an accident. They still tour and make money from there shows. The same thing happened the other month in russia 136 people dead from pyro in night club. People never learn

[ltuomela]

it wasn't the band though it was the club owner get your facts man,they were just doin there thing its not up to them to see if its a fire proof deal and all they do is just show up and play..plus one of there own died they offered a mill. cause its a moral thing to do. we lost one of the best guitarist around he will be missed and my thoughts go out to the rest that fell,life takes its turns.bottom line.

[lem1968a1]

which band are you

[angelicque777]

@ltuomela

Huh? morals thing to do... No price on a life sweetie... But I see ya all are still free to do gigs You go! Great White Rocks yea!

Oh and guess who got pacific blue gig cause girl wasn't allowed? And playboy and a tv show only difference? she had a girl i had a boy...Oh and Im sexy she not lol whatever pyros are for KIZZ concerts

[ltuomela]

look its like this.the band was found innocent they gave a million just for the hell of it,the fire inspectors were payed off,club owners are in jail.bottom line.that's why some are in jail and others lost jobs,im in the industry and have heard it strait from the sources,plain fact, its truth,and of course you cant put a price on life,band was not at fault,its the tour mangers that should have looked the band just shows up and plays man,sheesh you guys know your facts don't speculate..sweetie.

[batvette]

All the profits from their performances for years after this went to victims and their families. As late as 2008 they were still doing benefit performances for all fire victims. Lighten up, they feel horrible about the whole thing.

[lem1968a1]

What for the million divided by the 100 families?

[batvette]

Great White's net worth till the day all band members die cannot fully compensate the victims for their loss.

A million dollars is a lot of money. A hundred people is a lot of deaths. What do you want, the court to order Jack Russell to go rob banks until he comes up with a million each?

It was an accident, for chrissakes, many times when this **** happens there is not enough deep pockets to go around.

[motleycrue24]

@batvette ya man will we live in a society thats has laws...if your going to pull a show with pyrotechnics and a hundred people die in it theres going to be consequences

[batvette]

@motleycrue24 well no shit the most important law is don't use foam meant for packing on night club's walls and ceilings.

Was there a universal law that bans all pyrotechnics at all nightclubs, which would have made it a completely stupid idea to begin with? Of course there wasn't.

"using pyrotechnics" was not the criminally negligent offense.

[motleycrue24]

@batvette dude using pyrotechnics was a big part of it man..so what if they didnt use pyrotechnics they would of still went to court cause of the foam on the ceiling...

[batvette]

@motleycrue24 well you didn't emphasize it but of course, no pyrotechnics,no fire, no deaths.

I believe earlier I made a fairly accurate analogy, it would be like you bought a house and the builder cut corners and made the fireplace not of bricks but a flammable substitute.

Now what idiot starts a fire inside a house and burns it down? Of course you aren't an idiot, you didn't know the materials used were improper.

[nrlnhl4545]

no for each one

[nighthawk584]

The full unedited video of the fire is the most horrific thing I have ever heard or seen . The cries of those poor people with no escape are so haunting.

[nighthawk584]

Why would the company that made the foam be liable? They have no clue how the buyer will use it. I don't get it...I guess people have to sue whomever has the most money? Tragic but I don't see foam company or JBL speakers should be to blame at all!!!

[smackythefrog23]

they are responsible because they failed to label their product as a gasoline derived foam. it was gasoline and a catalyst that combine to make a solid fom.therefore, the foam company is liable. it may also be that the acoustical foam inside the speakers was also based on this same foam

[motion2000]

The manager is the only one who took any responsibility, i give him credit for writing letters too all of the familys, and appologizing, and being a man about it.

[ToBigWillie]

The gerb used was a 15x15 (15' tall 15 sec.). Everyone should have known that the pyros shouldn't have been used in those conditions. (Bet no one EVER owns up to approving them.) Plus, had the club had a sprinkler system, the damage would have been minimal and theres a possibility no loss of life would have occurred. Unfortunately they didn't, and there was. The Fire Marshals who have been inspecting the building and let it go without a sprinkler system are as much at fault as the club owners.

[dadadruma]

what the hell was the band manager thinking of having pyrotechnics in a freakin small club god damn, its a damn club not the meadowlands you shmuck RIP victims of this nightmare

[AirwarriorX2]

when i seen the real video of this i can hear so many screams and crys in that burning infurnal its heart breaking. if only a chain saw i could cut windows open for them people.

[heyda1966]

i just seen this band in concert last night great show! i feel for those who were killed that night in feb 03 and esp for those family's that will never be the same because of this BUT i don't blame the band! there was a KISS tribute band that played there i think a yr before GREAT WHITE and they used pyro ! thankfully nothing happened when they played.

peace,

jim

[smackythefrog23]

there is a difference between a flash pot which flashes for an instant, and puts out a big puff of smoke, and a gerb, which emits a shower of sparks for a full 25 seconds 25 feet into the air.

[lem1968a1]

You are obviously in the Great White band

[nightstorm16]

Sometimes people sue because sometimes hitting those responsible where it hurts the most is the only way they get the message.

[honeyjnc69]

Nothing can replace a life, so I don't know why people sue! It will not bring back your loved one, but suing will make you greedy!!The band was not at fault, it was the people that wanted to make money and stuffed all those people in the club, knowing that they were in violation of fire codes and local codes but wanting to beat the system, which caused the death of many innocent lives, just to try and make some money!!

[smackythefrog23]

every SINGLE person involved in this show:

road crew

band

bar owners

band manager

promoter

are responsible. they ALL fucked up.

[ltuomela]

nope band just shows up and play thats there job.its road crew and club owners,but man accidents happen cant take it back

[smackythefrog23]

ituomela : at some point in the design of the show, the band itself decided that the pyro should be a part of the show, and the road crew followed orders. Ive been a roadie/stagehand for over 10 years, and crews do NOT do anything the band doesnt tell them to do. either directly, or through management...

[batvette]

And yet if the band's management OR venue management says this or that is unsafe or we have a policy against it, the band is not going to do it. Remember what matters for road crew- who signs your paychecks? Not the band, the label, and that's management. If the band said shoot the singer out of a cannon 300 feet through the roof and the singer is shouting "launch me" well you tell him **** off cause he doesn't pay you.

The fault was club owners put illegal shipping foam in there. The end.

[smackythefrog23]

and nobody told the band not to do it. the band wanted pyro lit, so it got lit

[smackythefrog23]

@batvette and, at the end of the day, someone decided that the smart thing to do was light off 15x15 gerbs inside a club that had 12 foot ceilings.

[batvette]

While I for one think it's dumb to light pyrotechnics at ANY performance, inside or out, it happens all the time.

Do rock bands regularly light these things at their shows, often with little or no margin of ceiling clearance? Yes.

Do venues regularly violate fire code and use highly flammable shipping foam on their ceilings and walls? No.

At the end of the day had the club owners used the proper fire retardant foam insulating panels this tragedy would have not happened.

[smackythefrog23]

batvette: this is true, however you never see pyro being used in nightclubs for a reason. A hockey arena typically has a ceiling height of around 92 feet or higher, andthe pyro seldom comes within 10 feet of the ceiling. using what they used, it would be the equivalant of lighting off pyro in your living room. there is a big difference between lighting pyro off at a KISS concert and this kind of foolishness, therefore, the band was indeed partially at fault.

[opsvideo2008]

@honeyjnc69 You shouldn't begrudge the families of the victims getting financial settlements from the state authorithies and the guilty parties whose carelessness and irresponsibilities caused the death of 100 people. It is simple. Just imagine yourself in their shoes. Would you give your life to be in the burnt victims' place and have your young children deprived of their mother in this world for $1 billion ? If you are not prepared to lose your life, then you should just shut up.

[GeminiAzules]

$1M for 300 people? Thats not much per person even before the lawyers cut.

[toddsantos]

Your right, but hopefully it got noticed that this was a terrible accident. There's no denying it was unintentional.

[GeminiAzules]

Thats true. nobody should be getting sued here.

[smackythefrog23]

wrong.The person that decided it was a good idea to ignit pyro that shoots 25 feet into the air in a club with a 15 foot ceiling should most defiantely be sued.

[Slainte04]

It was not intentional; it was, however, negligent=basis for a lawsuit.

[randrews1]

it's the cap on the bands insurance plan.