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The Station Nightclub Fire

The Station nightclub fire was the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in American history, killing 100 people. The fire began at 11:07 PM EST, on Thursday, February 20, 2003, at The Station, a glam metal and rock n roll themed nightclub located at 211 Cowesett Avenue in West Warwick, Rhode Island.

The fire was caused by pyrotechnics set off by the tour manager of the evening's headlining band, Great White, which ignited flammable sound insulation foam in the walls and ceilings surrounding the stage. A fast-moving fire engulfed the club in 5½ minutes. Some 230 people were injured and another 132 escaped uninjured. Video footage of the fire shows its initial growth, billowing smoke that quickly made escape impossible, and the exit blockage that further hindered evacuation.

Out of 430 people: 100 fatalities, 115 required hospitalization

Number of victims found by location (main exit at bottom-center)

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

According to the computer predictions, many of the occupants had less than 90 seconds after
ignition to exit the structure. The quickly spreading fire and rapid production of smoke led to high
temperatures and low oxygen levels throughout most of the simulated nightclub. The exceptions were
a few areas close to the floor and near the open windows of the main bar room and the open doorway
to the main entry foyer. In these areas air from outside the structure was being drawn in providing a
more tenable environment and more time for escape.


The FDS simulation predicted rapid fire growth due to the burning of the convoluted polyurethane
foam. The simulation is consistent with the video record during the early stages of fire development.
The conditions in the actual nightclub transitioned from a fire within a compartment to a fully
involved wood structure fire burning in void spaces, the attic area, structural elements, and roofing
materials. In the computer simulation, such regions and materials were not included, which led to a
diminishing of the fire after 250 seconds as the fuel was consumed.


The simulation of the mockup experiments and this reconstruction also demonstrated difficulties in
modeling the pyrolysis of the foam and carpet. The low density foam burned quickly with little char
or residue and was hard to model as a simple fuel surface. As the carpet burned, portions of the
carpet pile melted and the melt pool exhibited more complex burning than a simple fuel surface.

In the simulation of the full nightclub equipped with sprinklers, examination of the predicted
temperature and the oxygen volume fractions showed tenable conditions would have existed over the
duration of the simulation (300 seconds), as the fire was fully extinguished approximately 114
seconds after ignition.


Based on the reconstruction of the fire using FDS and the findings of the technical investigation1,
NIST made a number of recommendations that were aimed at improving life safety in nightclubs.
Calling for changes to the national model building codes, the key recommendations included:


• requiring the installation of an NFPA 13 compliant automatic fire sprinkler system in
all new nightclubs regardless of size and in all nightclubs with an occupancy limit
greater than 100 people;


• clearly identifying and specifically forbidding materials that ignite easily and
propagate flames rapidly, such as non-fire retarded polyurethane foam, as an interior
finish material in all nightclubs;


• increasing the factor of safety for determining occupancy limits in all new and
existing nightclubs. These include setting a maximum permitted evacuation time (90
seconds for nightclubs similar in size to or smaller that The Station), calculating the
number of required exits and permitted occupancies (assuming that at least one exit
will be inaccessible during an emergency), increasing staff training and evacuation
planning, and improving means for occupants to locate emergency routes when
standard exit signs are obscured by smoke.


• conducting studies to better understand fire spread and suppression and human
behavior in emergency situations, to predict the impact of building design on safe
egress in emergencies.




The fire at 40 seconds. Daniel Biechele is facing camera at right.





Raw Video before the fire

Tornado caught on security cameras as it rips through neighborhood

Source

It is a dramatic look at the tornado that hit one week ago today, unlike any we've seen before.


The video shows the tornado as it took out homes in West Liberty. It was captured on a surveillance system that never turned off, and it recorded the entire disaster as it happened. 

"Well, I don't know what it's like, but I would compare it to hell," said Randy Risner.

Randy Risner's surveillance system consisting of seven cameras caught the tornadoes fury from several different angles.

"It didn't sound like a train, it sounded like thunder, and it kept getting louder and louder," Risner said.

He and his wife, Norma, took cover in their basement.

"You could actually feel the ground shaking and our the 11-foot basement walls were shaking, too," Norma said.

"I didn't know if we were going to have a house standing, when we came out or not," Randy said.

Damaged, their house stood strong. But the tornado destroyed their workshop (caught on camera) and another camera shows the roof of their neighbors home peel off like a sardine can.


"If I hadn't seen him walk out of the house, no one could have told me, he lived through that," said Randy.

His son Kyle's home, which neighbor's his, also took a hit, and can be seen from the video. 

"Without looking at this video you-all (WKYT) got from us, you'd never believe it," he said.

"I'm just so thankful we are okay, and I thank the good lord," Norma said with a heavy heart.

"But I feel, we feel for all of the families who lost loved one's, we are thinking of them," she continued.

The Risner's feeling fortunate to be alive say they're hoping the video leaves a lasting impression on those who see it.

"Because we will need help here in West Liberty for a long time, not just today," Randy said. "We don't want people to forget what happened to those here in Morgan County, and the others 
affected by these tornadoes."


Now they, like many of their neighbor's must make the choice of whether to rebuild or not. But first, Randy says, the people of West Liberty are in need of more insurance adjusters - who've told the Risner's it could be up to three-weeks before they can get someone to Morgan County.

"It's just a frustrating process, there's so much to do, it's overwhelming," he said.

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