InCorrected MAP of Club2Globe MapProJo MapAerial View RuinsMy NFPA testimonyBiechele gets four years 100 counts manslaughter 5-11-6
W. Warwick, RI: 9:30am 2/21/2003 updated Mar 14+Dec I've just returned from 3 hours at the disaster
scene, where now 99 (100 May 4th) people
perished and 187 were taken to the hospital-36
admitted at last count. One more body was
found Feb 23rd and the count was dropped
by one on the 27th; but in a testament to full-court press medical
care, only 3 of the desperately burned patients
have succumbed (another Mar 2 + 6th), though some have 80-90% burns. 14 more people are still critical, with inhalation
burns of the lungs or high percentage burns.
After the first 15 fatalities, victims have
had to be identified by dental records; state
policemen were sent out to collect closed
dentists' records. 432 people (Oct 5 PJ) were in the
crowded low-ceilinged club, way above the capacity of 250 (with the pool
tables and machines inside- manager Beese
says it was 317), when the headliner band started their first
song and ignited gerbs- firework fountains
that they had used in many previous performances. "If
I knew they were going to do that, I would
have been afraid," said Jerry, sitting
shellshocked in the Duncan Donuts 150 yards
from the incinerated club.
List of Victims{ProJo}HospitalizedDonationsPhotos of Victims {Ch6} FULL Pro-Jo Coverage
From
extensive interviews with 11 people inside
at the time of the fire, including some not
interviewed by anyone else, we've got a good
sense of what the material was that ignited
so horribly fast. The wall behind the band,
hit by a raft of sparkler sparks, was covered
by foam rubber sheets pressed into the shape
of repeating egg cartons (leading some witnesses
to think it was cardboard)- a standard acoustical
dampening material, but this stuff was spectacularly
flammable. {PJ} It was "the lowest grade, the cheapest stuff; 2½"
thick packing foam costing $575 for 25 sheets
of 3'x7' size installed in June 2000.³
Flame retardant foam would have cost double,
or $6 per fatality. Stage manager Paul Vanner
says owner Jeff Derderian was concerned about
noise complaints, and the town was insisting
on it for relicensing. A neighbor who had
complained about the noise, Barry H. Warner,
worked for American Foam and suggested and
ordered it. -- Sunrise over right side remains 6:45am 2/21
Copyright 2003 Michael Hammerschlag Other bands say some foam has been there
for up to decade, and had dried into a crumbly
brown texture. The sparks coming out at a
45° angle from 2" x 9" tubes
slapped into the foam. "You could see
it glowing... I knew we were in bad shape,"
said Vanner. "I think I'm in trouble,"
said GW tour manager Dan Biechele, who set
up the fireworks, according to sometime bouncer
Mario Giamei, as the fire spreads (ProJo
reports). As one can see in the unbelievable
video, the fire raced up the walls in 2 smooth
sheets that were so even that it looked like
an effect to the crowd, leading to 40 seconds
of immobility, time they would never get
back. It quickly passed to the ceiling, which
was made of cheap drop foam panels, painted
black, with black lights hanging below it
to illuminate the glowing speckles of material
amid the black. "When it reached the
ceiling, I knew something was wrong,"
said a 30ish man waiting in the blockaded
zone for his ride (about 5 insiders echoed
his words). This ceiling also proved insanely
combustible. Only 20-30 seconds after the
first flames, the whole rear wall seemed
to explode in a sheet of flame, and the remaining
band member who was trying to fight the fire,
barely made it off the stage. The guitarist,
Ty Longley, is among the fatalities, another
was burned. "It
was so instantaneous, you have no idea..
within seconds, it was walls, ceiling,"
said a woman wrapped in a bedcover outside in the cold
dawn. From interviews with people in the
middle of the crowd, once they had been pushed out the door by the surging crowd
(60 seconds), the dark poisonous smoke dropped to chest level within a few seconds
and fire started coming out most of the doors
and windows. For the remaining crowd, life
had became a desperate struggle. If they
survived, they would have had to crouch down
below the acrid lethal smoke which "had
a horrible smell to it- it smelled like rubber",
and keep moving smoothly towards the front
door or one of the 2 other obvious exits,
which was almost impossible because of the
surging crowd: "I didn't feel like I
had much control over where I was going.
I wasn't going to go towards the fire!"
said Jerry, about the door right by the stage
that a few (20 -Dec7 PJ) patrons and band
members fled through, though it had speakers
partially blocking it. A still photo seems
to show that exit sign out, though that may
be an illusion from the flash.
Another exit door was on the left end of
the horseshoe bar ("invisible, because
it was colored the same as the wall,"
says car salesman Bill, also a factor in
the 1977 Ky fire- only 12 exited through
this), another in the back through a maze
of hallways- both little unused because their
exit signs were not really visible from the floor, and the herd movement towards the front
door carried everyone along. Even a woman
within 5 steps of the rear bar lounge door
"got pummeled" and knocked down
getting out. Others smashed windows (greenhouse) to the right of the front door, which were also broken by those on the
outside, and clambered through the slashing
glass into the cool sustenance of the outside,
bloody but alive. Todd King of Framingham says that stretch of windows were mostly
blocked by pool tables, vending machine,
table, and air hockey table; which were supposed
to have been removed to increase the occupancy
for concerts.
The front entrance narrowed and split into
2 directions inside and the outside railing
and ramp stopped straight movement out the
door at 5 ft.. Along with the band bus and cars parked up
against the building, all these factors impeded egress from the
deathtrap and access for the firefighters.
The band's lead singer Jack Russell claims
he got permission for the fireworks, but
The Station owners and 4 previous band venues
deny the band asked, and claim complete surprise.
One club, the Stone Pony, in New Jersey doused
their fireworks when they started. But 3
other bands have claimed they used fireworks
too at The Station club as many as 20 times,
2 with videos. {BH}W. Warwick fireman had been stationed in
the club 7 times in 2000-2001 for sanctioned
fireworks during concerts. Fire marshals
have fanned out to inspect all small clubs
in the state and have closed 8, including
a club 4 miles fm The Station, Mardi Gras,
which had covered most of its interior in
foam. Legal suits have been flying,
with plantiffs including Anheuser Busch and
massive Clear Channel Communications (owns
1200 radio stations)- this case will be litigated
for years. Left side remains copyright 2003MH
One problem was no audible instructions
from club personnel to direct people to the other 3 open exits in the 60 seconds before panic set
in. "A security guard brushed by me..
he ran by me.. all he said was 'excuse me',
he didn't say 'Everyone out', nothing, nothing,"
said Scott bitterly, a 80's band fan from Portsmouth (Newport).
In the video, a person, perhaps Budweiser
rep Michael Cordier (who died), waves and
points repeatedly towards the main exit.
Of course, for someone working, after the
brilliance of the pyrotechnics, it would
have taken a minute to notice what was happening,
and that was the entire time there was to
escape- 67 seconds from when Butler's camera
records the ignition to when he escapes the
building. "There was no time. Half the
staff died because they were pushing people out the door," said a woman sadly late Sunday (23rd) night
in the Cowesett Inn across the street from
the remnants of the bar. 4 members of the staff perished in the hellish inferno, including 2 bouncers:
Tracy King, and Steve Mancini (who was also
in the opening band-Fathead), and his wife Andrea-
the ticket taker. -Todd King and wife
Todd King (no relation) claims another bouncer
at the front door, not understanding what
was happening, pushed him and his wife back
into the club. "He shoved my wife.. behind me; I grabbed
her belt, pulled her around in front of me,
[then] the bouncer shoved me...Then I just
pushed everybody through." Ironically,
after the Chicago trampling, they may have
been more concerned with controlling panicked
running. "The area between the ticket booth
and that wall.. was so small.. 2 people couldn't
walk side by side," explained Todd in a 2 hour interview.
The 4x4 ft white ticket booth greeted people
once they passed through the Y right turn
entrance and presented another fatal constriction
for fleeing patrons. 25 bodies were found inside that bottleneck.
"As we reached the ramp, chairs came
flying through the windows" (of the
bar lounge). John Gibbs-
John Gibbs claims he and his friend, Kevin Dunn, were prevented from exiting out the stage door and pushed towards the
front of the club by club workers, who outrageously
claimed that exit "was only for the
band." His friend died. Another stage escapee, Bruce Cormier, shoved
his way past the bouncer with his son and
daughter; 15 seconds later he said the door
slammed shut, and no one else came out. Sited 3 times by inspectors, that door opened
the wrong way {PJ}- into the club- and panic
bar was sometimes broken. 2-3 dozen more
people should have been able to make it through
this door, from the fatal zone near the stage,
but that would have required moving towards
the fire, instinctively difficult.
{PJ}As people piled up inside the front door,
off-duty bouncer Mario Giamei, and opener Fathead drummer Al Prudhomme,
who had fled through the stage door, yanked
terminally tangled people clear of the pile.
8 West Warwick police, who'd been about to
make a routine sweep throught the club, also
dove into the desperate effort to free people
from the pile. Within 50 seconds, to the everlasting horror of witnesses, smoke and flames filled that door. "He was one of the ones who tried",
said the manager of the Greek sandwich joint
across the street, about a haunted troubled-looking
cop who stopped there March 4th. Kevin Meese,
the club manager, says he and Joe crawled
back into the smoke filled bar area with
a flashlight, calling for people {PJ} Incredible
tales of courage and sacrifice occurred as
people threw strangers out of the inferno,
or went back inside looking for friends (like
Matt Darby, who pulled out 12 people), never
to emerge. "I'll never listen to another
Great White song," said Dawn in the Cowessett Inn, who'd played in 2 bands at The Station
over 12 years. In the haunting video, lovely
waitress Dina DeMaio cheesily mugs for the
camera of her boss- she was celebrating her
30th birthday, there wouldn't be any
more. As of Sunday night almost all the remnant
structures had been torn down, it was just
rubble, except for a piece of the left wing
and incredibly, the drummer alcove, where
the fire started. Sunday a caravan of buses
took relatives to a private viewing of the
ruins, but as if nature was piling on...
for the last 2 days it poured rain in RI. left side left wall-MH (stills from video) This bar was a ramshackle dry wood building
dating from WW2 with extensions; some parts I think covered
by tar paper, creosote?, and large old shingles,
which is why it went up like a torch. I drove
through an intense plume of smoke returning
from a video store at 12:10am (still 3 miles
away- it started an hour earlier at 11:05pm)
and was hit by a wave of blind panic, actually yanking up the door handle to throw
myself out of the 45mph vehicle. "I
have to get out!" rang in my head. My engine was on fire.... No ... this was..
wood smoke. What was going on here?
Incredible, setting off fireworks next to
flammable foam without even a fire extinguisher
nearby- this was the first error. The walls
ignited enormously- almost like it’d been
covered by flammable liquid. The local CBS
TV station WPRI had cameraman Brian Butler
next to stage where you can see walls ablaze
and people had no idea there was a problem-
he was able to back all the way out of place
before people started leaving, calmly but worried- some
walking ghosts. Tragic. I walked into that
place, The Station, once maybe 6-9 months
before on a Sunday afternoon- it was a typical
cramped club with a warm friendly atmosphere,
but didn't stay- it's a suburb-rural place
(somebody was yelling "Yeah, that's
Great" as the fire flashed up the walls,
thinking it was part of act). I looked around
it critically, with 150W spootlights right
up against the low raw wood ceiling and thought it was such a horrible
fire trap that I mentioned that to a patron.
The club, however, did just pass a fire inspection
a month ago: sprinklers were not mandated
for a club that size. The flammable foam
was never noticed or listed in any of the
3 inspections since it was installed, though
the rules mandate verifying flame resistance.
"It was all dry dry wood," said
Angel, who drove to work by the club 5 minutes
before the fire and had been there often.
"The lights were too close to the ceiling...
especially where the band played." drummer's alcove where fire started-
That kind of foam- unless it's heavily fireproofed,
I believe emits deadly cyanide gas (3am Feb 21) when burned (a longtime problem with airline
cushions). Yes. OSHA burn tests of the same foam found in the basement of the club produced toulene diisocyanate, acetone, acrylonitrile,
- all poisonous or corrosive (to flesh) solvents.
There’s a foot of black smoke at the ceiling
within 1 minute of ignition, which probably
became fatal within another 30 seconds. Inevitably,
as the place filled with blinding poisonous
smoke, the crowd panicked, rushed the exits,
and piled up prone by the door and broken
windows, where other guests smeared with
blood tried to yank them through. The horror. "As they opened the door,
the smoke billowed, and within 5 seconds,
the lights went out," a woman said,
which started the stampede. The immediate
power failure and roiling smoke plunged the
club into blackness. One thing that might
have saved some people was if someone had
instantly commandeered a car and crashed
through the 20 ft stretch of windows near
the door. This was impossible because the
band's luxury tour bus was parked right up
along the front, "the driver's side was all burnt at
the top," said Bill. Scott saw it too,
but "they got that out of there before
it all went up." center smokey section 2003 MH
Slow motion of the video reveals an anemic
spastic stream of water from hoses presumably
pinched under car tires as firemendesperately tried to water the Danté-esque
pile of people in the front door, which extended
20 feet back in a mass. They suceeded; tragically
one at the bottom drowned, according to a
WW cop. Miraculously, Mike Vargas, stuck
at the bottom for 90 minutes and shielded
by thousands of pounds of people on top of
him, survived almost unhurt. That stretch of windows was blocked by
pool tables, chairs, vending machine, air
hockey and a merchandising table; which people
had to clamber over into the smoke and heat
to make it through the windows. If there’s
a fate worse than death, it’s serious burns.
Heroic fireman entered the inferno before
the building was safe and pulled 100 people
out of there, many just before the roof collapsed.
"They were there within a minute and a half.
I called 911 and said 'People are dead..
get over here'.. which got their attention,"
said Todd. He and his wife Teresa, whom he
credits for noticing the fire first ("She
said, 'We've gotta go'... I thought she was
mad at me."), spent the next 2 hours
ferrying the grievously injured into the
Cowesett Inn and parking lot and tended them.
The TV station had sent cameraman there
in response to Chicago club disaster to show
a club that was up to code and was safe! And it was owned by another person from
the same station, Jeffrey Derderian, who
was also there on the story. Saturday night
he gave a short sobbing press conference
about his experiences that night, basically
thanking people and denying giving permission
for the fireworks (many other bands had used
fireworks there), but the lust for justice
has begun- the attorney general and governor
have been promising criminal charges... against
someone. Feb 23, they searched his brother
Michael's (the main owner of the club) house,
and a grand jury was convened Wednesday,
with the band members Great White and others
testifying. Jeffrey is widely praised by his employees,
colleagues, and patrons as a "really
nice guy." He had been trying to sell
the club, maybe the very next day. The brothers
have hired former Republican AG Jeffrey Pine
to defend them, the former boss of the current
Democratic AG Patrick Lynch, who has seemed
to back off somewhat. In another vicious
irony, Derderian had produced TV reports
for WHDH-TV7 in Boston on what do when a
fire filled a room with smoke and another
on mattress fires, where they lit fires in
a room and crouched below smoke. He said
about the polyurethane foam in the mattresses,
"fire safety experts call this stuff solid
gasoline", that makes deadly fires because
of the "speed and intense smoke".
*Dec 9,04: The indictments missed the person with
the greatest responsibility for keeping the
place safe: the club stage manager; and the
moron who turned people away from the stage
door. "That's what the grand jury returned,"
said AG Lynch to a query. "I can only
do what they say." May 11,06 Biechele may have reckless in using too
big fireworks for that low ceilinged club,
but it was a nightmare firetrap waiting for
the slightest spark and mostly the responsibility
of the owners and managers. 4 years seemed fair, considering his deep
sorrow and honor in not fighting it, but
in many states he would have recieved less
or nothing for misdemeanor manslaughter.
No fire or building inspectors were ever fired or punished, although West Warwick's Denis Larocque
saw the foam many times in inspections. And
for Derderian to use that explosively flamable
foam after doing a TV report on it was monstrously
negligent.
² Map in boston globe inaccurate- but
I thought stage exit had foyer with another
door 10 ft to the right (from video), but
I've been told and believe this is incorrect and door opened straight to outside; Many
people say there was a partial wall with
poles between horseshoe bar and main floor,
which may have existed in an earlier configuration.
Club was under constant alteration- it looked
very different 5-6 months earlier when I
saw it. Map in 2/22 ProJo completely wrong,
as is evident from the next page aerial photo, which also shows open door at end of left
finger hallway. Unless this door opened only
from the outside, club would have had 5 exits.
3/1 Projo map shows door at front left corner
of building, which I guess exists, because
they counted 46 people who went through it
(Dec 7), but 2-3 months ago they said door
couldn't be opened.
³ Many years ago I bought a sheet of
3" foam rubber for a camping sleeping
pad from that company: American Foam Corp
in Johnston., RI. Once when camping, I used
a little laundromat detergent box as a candle
holder (not advised) and woke to the nylon
tent floor and edge of the sleeping bag on
fire. It never reached the foam, luckily.
When I renovated an entire attic 13 years
ago, installing walls, ceiling, carpet, electricity;
I was able to buy flame-retardant 4x8' sheets
of 5/8" white polyurethane foam paneling
for the ceiling for only $2.20 each. I insisted
on seeing the spec sheet.
NOTE: This started as a blog, but was converted
into an article. The organization is strange,
some things are repeated, there are errors
since I don't have a spell check on html
editor, and it's constantly being updated;
but I mean it to be a definitive mid-length
article on this horrible event, with my reporting
and news from many sources integrated into
a coherent tale. Presumably, people have
read articles on the big issues, like the
foam purchase. I casually knew 4 victims
of this Stephan King nightmare. I would like
to have been there- I would like to have
saved those people, but I couldn't. I can
do this. In June '03, I was offered a large
piece of change for an article on this, but
6 months later it wouldn't have been opening
wounds, but ripping up scars. And in truth,
although totally explainable, this was so
fast it was like the underworld reaching
up from the ground to snatch those people
below- there were forces here I didn't want
to get any closer to than I had- and misery
and pain beyond comprehension. With great
reluctance, I turned it down. Some errors
in the club map were not removed to expose
the Rashomon Effect on multiple traumatic
testimonies. West Warwick Police Chief
Michael Hammerschlag’s commentaries + articles
have appeared in Seattle Times, Providence
Journal, Honolulu Advertiser, Columbia Journalism
Review, Media Channel, and Capital Times. He
reported from Russia from 1991-1994, wrote
for Moscow News, Tribune, Guardian, Times,
and We/Mui;has produced TV reports and documentaries,
and did radio reports and 15 hours of talk shows. He broke the
first big story about media mistakes in the 2000 election, covered the
2004 election, and the Cheney shooting. His
web page is http://HAMMERNEWS.com , mail: hammerschlag@bigfoot.com
BROADCAST NEWS: That video tape will take it's
place as one of the 3 most incredible news
videos recorded; along with the images of
Lenny Scutnick pulling a woman out of the
frozen Potomac as she sank for the last time
after the Florida Air crash, and David Crocket's
prescient film of Mt. St. Helens exploding
(he got up at 5am on a Sunday, drove out
to the mountain, and was on the west flank
as it exploded in March 1980- I watched it
for hours in connection with an article).
In fine Seattle fashion, he was punished
for losing the KOMO-TV car rather than getting
the highest journalistic awards. I've spent
much time examining that fire footage, trying
to identify the doomed patrons in their last
moments. In a multifarious conflict of interest,
Channel 12 both employed the cameraman and
owner who helped pull victims out of the
inferno, the owner who may face endless charges
for failings; had sent a new reporter to
brag about his own bar (which is understandable
if you understand TV and difficulty of shooting
liabilty prone interiors); and had to try
report on the events and controversies fairly.
All in all, they've done pretty well, but
are still being pulled in 5 directions at
once. Suits have begun to fly- this disaster will
be litigated for years.
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cruel embargo of a crushed foe; arrogant
in our imagined invulnerability// Our enemies
noticed...but will reap the whirlwind- Liberal Slant-Sept 12, 2001 PHOTOS: WTC Ruins 12/6 View fm SummitMore SummitRuin Stills fm Video 9P IMAGES of 9-11 6P
RUSSIANGOVERNMENT TAKES CONTROL of TELEVISION- War of the Vladimirs.. Return to the Bad
Old Days?- Putin Has Taken Control of 2 Other Networks;
Strengthened Press Ministry; Prosecuted and
Persecuted Gusinsky's (+ Berezovsky's) Media
Empire- History of, Reasons for, + Meaning
of Conflict- with timeline - mediachannel.org- April 9,01 3000 or 1500
wd Issue Cover
"WHOOPS"- How the Networks Got
it Wrong- PROBLEM POLLING POLICY - Nat. Scoop- Intellectual Capita1- 11/25/00 -MediaChannel.org- 12/26/00 Inside story on the screw-ups
(3-4) at the VNS and Florida counties that
caused the networks to blow the election
call in a strong article/analysis/commentary
against the networks and projection policy
and the squirrelly polls w interviews w TV
news execs, Walter Cronkite, Florida officials,
pollsters, Sen. Gorton and VNS people, voting
machine reps ALTIssue CoverTalk Show