At 11:07 p.m. on the 20th of February
2003 at the Station Nightclub in West
Warwick, Rhode Island, pyrotechnics used
as part of a concert by the hard rock
band Great White set fire to acoustic
foam surrounding the stage. The flames
spread with incredible speed. As patrons
rushed to escape exits became jammed. All
in all 100 people lost their lives and
hundreds more were injured and
traumatized, all in the space of just a
few short minutes. The fire started just
seconds into the band's opening song.
Pyrotechnics designed to create a
controlled shower of sparks had been set
up on either side of the stage. Two
fountains were directed straight up and
two were angled off at 45 degrees. As
Great White took to the stage and
launched into their song "Desert Moon",
tour manager Daniel Biechele triggered
these pyrotechnics.
It was the angled fountains that were
principally responsible for igniting the
acoustic foam which surrounded the stage.
Video of the incident shows the fire
taking hold, reaching the ceiling
in a matter of seconds. Patrons were
initially slow to evacuate. This may have
been because they believed that the fire
was part of the act.
The music video for the song which the
band were playing showed the musicians
surrounded by flames. Not long after the
pyrotechnics ended, though, the band
ceased to play, and the lead vocalist
Jack Russell calmly spoke into the
microphone while looking at the blaze.
"That's not good," he said.
The band members fled the nightclub via
an exit beside the stage. Realizing the
danger they were in the crowd began to
evacuate as well. The Station Nightclub
had several exits but most patrons were
unfamiliar with the layout of the
building and so flocked towards the main
entrance and exit. The narrow corridor
leading up to this door was swiftly
jammed with bodies. 462 people were in
the building when the fire began - 58 more
than the venue's official capacity. In
the chaotic rush to escape
many people were trampled. The main exit
became clogged completely with bodies
with patrons wedged in so tight that
even those who had already escaped
couldn't pull them free. In addition to
the deaths caused by crushing and
trampling many also died from smoke
inhalation. The acoustic foam gave off a
dense, opaque, toxic smoke when it burned,
which not only made it extremely
difficult to navigate the building but
also caused death after just a few
breaths. In total 100 people died on
scene as a result of crush related
injuries, smoke inhalation, and from burns
from the fire itself. Among the dead were
Ty Longley, the lead guitarist of Great
White. It is reported that he initially
escaped unscathed but, miscalculating
the severity of the fire, returned to the
building to try and rescue his guitar. Ty
Longley was the only member of the band
to perish in the fire. The other members
of Great White escaped through a door
adjacent to the stage - a door which at
least some audience members were
prevented from using by a bouncer who
stated adamantly that the exit was for
the band only.
With so many dead and the nightclub
destroyed thoughts turned to who to
blame for the disaster. The nightclub
owners said they did not give permission
for the band to use pyrotechnics. Band
members claimed they did have permission.
Meanwhile an investigation revealed that
fire safety inspectors should long ago
have demanded the installation of a
sprinkler system into the ancient
building. The two brothers who owned the
nightclub and Great White's manager were
charged with 200 counts of manslaughter
each: two for each victim, as it was alleged
that they had committed both criminal
negligence manslaughter and misdemeanor
manslaughter. While the nightclub owners
pleaded not guilty, Great White's manager
Daniel Biechele pled guilty, stating that
he wished the investigation to be over
quickly so that the families of the
victims could achieve closure. Biechele
was sentenced to four years in prison
with an additional suspended sentence.
Many of the families of the deceased
were supportive of him, with some even
writing letters that noted their
forgiveness and asking for him to be
freed from prison. He was released after
serving just two years in jail. The two
nightclub owners were given similar
sentences, with one of them facing four
years in jail and the other three years
of probation. The difference in their
sentences was down to the different
levels of responsibility they each had
for the purchase and installation of the
flammable foam. Numerous civil suits
worked their way slowly through the
courts, with the largest resulting in a
settlement of 25 million dollars from a
company that manufactured the foam. Five
months after the fire Great White went
on a benefit tour. They began each set
with a prayer for those who had lost
their lives in the fire, and donated a
portion of their proceeds to a fund to
support the surviving relatives. For many
years they refused to play the song they
had been playing when the fire began,
but eventually added it to their
repertoire again in 2009.
The site of the fire was cleared and
survivors and loved ones of the deceased
left numerous crosses as memorials to
the dead. A permanent memorial was
eventually erected on the site, and it is
now a park which sees a memorial service
on the 20th of February each year. While
the fire was a terrible and costly one
it did result in an almost instant
improvement in fire safety across the
board. A moratorium was placed on the use
of pyrotechnics in small venues and
many nightclubs undertook programs of
rapid improvements to bring their
premises up to code. While the 100 music
lovers who died during the Station
Nightclub fire might have died
unnecessarily, their deaths - at least - were
not in vain.
