Sunday, February 20, 2011
Eight Years Ago, A Handful of People Didn’t Do Their Job, & 100 People Died
Backstage at BackstageJobs.com: "Eight years ago tomorrow, February 20th, The Station nightclub in Rhode Island caught fire and burned to the ground. The fire was started when pryo, loaded too much for the size of the venue and placed too close to a wall, was launched by the manager of the onstage band and ignited the wall at the rear of the stage. The fire spread quickly, causing audience members to panic, not look for other exits, and head for the narrow hallway and door they had entered from. While there were technically enough exits for the crowd, some had been blocked by vendor and sponsor tables set up for the show, preventing easy escape. 100 people were killed.
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6 comments:
This is another comment that I could just as easily type, "Amen" and be done with it. It is so easy to want to blow past egress issues and all the dreaded 44" rules as blocking and scenery and the general pomp and circumstance of what we do but the honest truth is that it's a responsibility we're not only legally obligated to keep our productions and work spaces safe but we are MORALLY obligated too. If nothing else, these accidents remind us that we need ALWAYS to be vigilant to hazards, even if we haven't personally been involved in accidents like these. Always.
Interestingly, I just read about this incident in pro wrestler/rock frontman Chris Jericho's latest book, discussing the fact that the night of the Station incident, there was a fire incident in his own rock performance that night where the nightclub he was performing in almost burned, and after the incident, he won't use pyro in his rock show anymore. It's unfortunate, but that seems to be the way the business works; until something tragic happens, the rules won't really be followed. Not to be overly pessimistic, but who knows if anything can change this.
Also, I am somewhat disturbed that this article felt it necessary to include a video of the incident. Although it makes the story more effective, it is a bit exploitative.
I remember this accident, in fact I was trying to remember exactly what happened just the other day. It was so horrible what happened to all those people. It is important for us all to remember why fire codes and safety must be placed as a top priority. When people make exceptions, the consequences can be disastrous and horrific. When using pyrotechnics as effects, safety procedures must be even more cautious. I hope that those who survived the accident are grateful for today, and will help prevent it from happening again.
Can we show this to the directors and designers so they'll hate us a little less? In a 3/4 formation there's no better point of contention between a PM and...everyone else as egress rules.
This should be a good lesson to all the technicians,Directors,actors, and production designers about why egress and fire martial rules matter. this video is such a valuable lesson in why we do what we do and why things are the way they are, yes we get frustrated at the fire martial sometimes and years sometimes the rules get in the way of our intended designs but this is what happens when we ignore these rules and don't correctly do our jobs.
i feel like the video is a tool and helped solidify the reality of the article and wasn't used to exploit it.
This is quite a frightening story that clearly high lights the dangers of ignoring fire code and safety procedure. I'd hazard a guess that night clubs are significantly more dangerous environments than normal theaters are. Often over crowded, dark, filled with people perhaps not in their best senses.
I hope that this is a lesson that has been well examined. This inappropriate use of pyro, the blocking of fire exits, the blatant ignoring of fire code, the lack of a fire suppression system, all of these factors led to a deadly and avoidable situation.
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