This is just so sad!!!
Flames consume the building housing the The Station nightclub.
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Several dead as fire consumes nightclub
Concert's pyrotechnic display eyed as cause
Friday, February 21, 2003 Posted: 3:01 AM EST (0801 GMT)
WEST WARWICK, Rhode Island -- The death toll is unclear but feared high after a pyrotechnic display ignited a massive fire that destroyed a Providence-area nightclub late Thursday, according to local officials.
Many of the dead are still inside the building's charred remains, according to West Warwick Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer.
"We are preparing to go into the facility and start looking at removing bodies from the site," said Bauer.
Bauer described the blaze as "a quick flash fire" and noted that recent inspections had shown no violations.
At least 40 people with a range of injuries -- mostly burns -- were taken to Kent Hospital, a few miles from The Station nightclub in the suburb of West Warwick, according to a hospital spokesman. Dozens of others were taken to other area hospitals.
Concertgoers inside the packed club fled for their lives, jamming exits as they tried to escape the fast-moving fire.
Video shot by CNN affiliate WPRI showed the band, Great White, performing as onstage fireworks went off stage. As the crowd cheered, a fire ignited by the pyrotechnics engulfed the stage. Initially, fans casually made their way toward the exit. Then, panic broke out, according to videographer Brian Butler, who was taping the rock concert.
As the band plays, the pyrotechnics appear to ignite the stage behind the musicians.
"It was that fast. As soon as the pyrotechnics stopped, the flame had started on the egg-crate [foam] backing behind the stage and it just went up the ceiling and people stood and watched it," Butler said.
"Some people were already trying to leave and others were just sitting there going 'Yeah that's great!' and I remember that statement because I was like, 'This is not great, this is time to leave.'"
As the flames spread inside the one-story club, band members jumped off the stage and joined the crowd, heading toward the exit.
"It went up like a Christmas tree," Jack Russell, Great White's lead singer, told The Providence Journal. "I was trying to put it out with a bottle of water. I turned around and the building was engulfed. My sound man is injured. I'm on my way to the hospital. I'm missing my guitar player."
People on the videotape were screaming "I can't move!" as they tried to flee. Others were stacked on top of each other in the door frame, as they tried to exit the nightclub.
Three days ago, 21 people died and more than 50 were injured in a stampede at a Chicago nightclub, after a security guard used pepper spray to break up a fight.
As the band plays, the pyrotechnics appear to ignite the stage behind the musicians.
my Cowboys 
They were playing at a nightclub who had passed inspections in Dec. which includes inspection of ALL fire extinguishers and combustible materials. (hmmmm). They passed, but the building was engulfed in flames in three minutes. I find that a serious violation in building codes and fire codes which were unrecognized and not enforced by the state nor the fire marshall. It is not up to the band in general to obtain the proper permits but is up to the road managers and the technicians to ensure the safety of the band and the fans. It was not done in this case. If they had the proper fire codes in place there would have been a sprinkler system in the establishment, regardless of the square footage requirements to have one in place. It is like they are saying that smaller establishments that have fewer patrons is not worthy of that particular system. I would consider that a slap in the face. Like they say, "Somebody made a bad decision". In this case there were several. But to say that the band should have brought extinguishers to an establishment is absurd. Had the building caught fire from something other than what happened here, the same results would have applied. The building was unsafe,as far as fire safety is concerned, and should have NEVER passed inspection. In this case, permit or no permit you would have seen the same results. Because I KNOW they would have been issued anyway.
