When you enter a building, always take notice of all the exits and keep in mind that a fire can become deadly in 30 seconds. Do this every time you enter a building.
Some of the people inside The Station did take notice of all the exits. Problem is, a bouncer was blocking one of them, and another one was reportedly chained shut. The other one was through the kitchen and would've been known only to employees. That's why most people headed for the front.
@@nemome5837 Yeah or you can just be a smarky asshole that jokes their way through everything. I'm a big personal responsibility guy, so that's great, whatever you want to do ctrl-Z.
Theres a lot more then just a small stage at play here. Several firecodes were broken. That polyurethane foam plus spray paint was the biggest killer and a lack of fire sprinklers, the fact it was an enclosed building just turned it into a raging furnace.
@@AFellowDoktuhAnd of course had there been no pyrotechnics, it likely would never have happened, spray painted foam and fire code violations or not. It was stupid idea to have that going off in a roadhouse bar with low ceilings. Common sense should tell anyone that.
Because they'd done it many times before, luckily without incident. If you know what to look for, there are videos of previous concerts at The Station in which pyro is used. Proof: th-cam.com/video/WU5tudi0HX4/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/3rWf7aq67ko/w-d-xo.html
That polyurethane foam is also the same that was in the cladding in the Grenfell tower fire. Why is something so flammable still being used, especially on cladding on buildings.
+Jeff Froment: Grenfell was just another mindfuck. The best lesson I learned from having my life rocked by the Station Nightclub Fire was understanding how REAL people react in REAL tragedies. I'm not sure if all of the videos I link below are still current on youtube, but here are the best examples of the scam that I found at the time: Plenty of laughing witnesses and survivors: This lady is laughing before her cue, then suddenly goes into character and puts on her frowny face. Just after the 4:05 mark- th-cam.com/video/yecWfSahdOA/w-d-xo.html There's this guy looking down the entire time, sounding like he's reciting a bunch of talking points about remembering to thank the firefighters and such. He hides a fit of duping delight at 1:40- th-cam.com/video/KRBFMEgY4MQ/w-d-xo.html TAKING THE MICKEY: I've seen 4 different interviews with Mickey. Of course, the bathrobe evokes much more pity in the viewer than if he had simply put on his coat. In this interview, he holds his toddler AND HER TOY SHEEP. Really?! It can't be a doll or teddy bear? Nothing subtle there, it's the network telling us what they think of their audience- th-cam.com/video/mFTLqOFX_Co/w-d-xo.html And after this interview, he walks behind the reporter and laughs, from about 1:25 to 1:30- th-cam.com/video/CpqE6Zk1Hng/w-d-xo.html
I remember going to a club many years ago in college park,MD. The same type of foam was used to make it look like a cave. Thank God nothing like that ever happened. No pyro was ever done in there as far as I know. Common sense! It could have been completely avoided.
@@myoldvhstapes I was living in Providence when ti happened and siren after siren ran screamed past my apartment. So many of us knew people who died. RIP to everyone who died. The only positive is I think myself and many others now check for exits when we go inside somewhere
Derderian didn't even carry a worker's compensation policy. He was paying some of his employees under the table, and others he was just paying with free beer and concert tickets.
Chef Danger SO TRUE, Now this POS has to live with it. I HOPE the nightmares HAUNT him FOREVER!!! R.I.P. to the 100 innocent souls who lost their lives💔😢😔🙏🙏🙏
People always want to assume a business owner is rich and just rolling in money. The fact is the place was barely turning any profit and was being threatened with shutdown due to noise complaints. Yes the owners bear responsibility but the buck should also stop with the fire marshal who failed at their job not to mention the idiocy of Great White for setting off pyrotechnics in such a confined space.
@@seric4546: The Station was a money pit. Yet the brothers came from a wealthier-than-most family. Michael sold his million dollar Cessna airplane after the fire. It was assumed he did so in order to have fewer assets that might be awarded to victims in lawsuits. When I was a youngish girl in the 80s, Archie (the brothers' dad) took my family around the RI coast in his little yacht. The only boat any of my relatives owned was a wooden canoe.
The coincidences mentioned in this story truly made my stomach turn. The footage of the fire was shot by someone doing a story on nightclub safety. Jeff Derderian had done a report on the danger of polyurethane foam for WHDH when he worked there. Ughh- it just makes me nauseous. I’m sure there are more not mentioned in this report. This horrible tragedy is almost as if someone left the gates of hell open long enough for it to reach the nightclub and swallow it whole. Those who survived were incredibly blessed. Those who did not, may they RIP.
How could the owner have not known about the dangers when he did a report on them? And according to my research, the victims' families got somewhere in the way of 800,000 dollars via settlement. That's how much one life was worth to the owners. I would've said "hell no" to any settlement...."see you in court, MFers!"
The circumstances surrounding this fire, is So similar to the fire at Supper Club in 1977. 167 people died in that fire. Very sad. The Supper club was in Kentucky.
Not only regarding the foam, but the constant citing of inward opening exit doors, taken off hinges and put back on the same way, year-after-year when "inspections" were completed. An even more striking example of profits over people. Worrying more about gate crashers than safe passage in an emergency. Lastly, occupancy. Pack 'em in as much as possible. It seems to me the max occupancy of 400 in that tiny tinder box was ridiculous to begin with. That horrific night, there were over 460 inside. I'd have put a bullet in my head, if I'd been responsible for all of those lives lost. How do the former owners even sleep at night?
The fire marshal ignored the foam which was covering swathes of the clubs walls. There’s only two explanations. He looked the other way or was the single most incompetent fire marshal in history.
@@johnaddeo2251 Sadly, local officials are often so desperate not to offend business owners that they let a lot of crap slide. And if course said local officials are often bribed into compliance.
Biechle is the only one brave enough to try to rescue people, and remorseful enough to plead guilty, not shirk responsibility for his part of it. this was a perfect storm of incompetence on all fronts.
Like all disasters this was a perfect storm of contributing factors. No fire extinguishers, no sprinkler system, inadequate exits, a beyond capacity crowd, bouncers for the band blocking an exit at a critical moment, passing grade by fire inspectors.... If, however, I had to list one overriding factor, it was the band member who made the decision to go with the pyrotechnics that night. Any reasonable person should have known better. Of course, if I'm not mistaken, that's the one person who took blame for the situation, and actually spent time in prison. One can only imagine the guilt he felt at the time, and probably still feels today! It's not empty words to say something good came out of this situation, but only if others learn from these mistakes. Only if these situations aren't repeated, can we say these people were not killed in vain.
You make an excellent comment....honestly I do not think Rhode Island learned...we still see dirty dealing which was a major contributor to this tragedy...so many things came together at the wrong time....some were held responsible...some were allowed to walk away....Coconut Grove happened 70 years ago....we didn't learn then....
Biechele was the only one who came out and openly admitted his involvement and apologized. That doesn't absolve him of any guilt, but you know, he stepped up and took the hit while the Derderians, fire inspectors and the band were busy pointing fingers at each other and scurrying like cockroaches in order to avoid or minimize their blame. I know there are those who may never forgive him, but I actually feel bad for him (not as much as the fire victims, of course) because he's going to be carrying that albatross around his neck for the rest of his life. No big deal if you're the kind of person that has no conscience, but he appears to be very remorseful.
You're wrong. The biggest overriding factor was the material on the wall. Walls covered in flammable foam doused in black spraypaint. Using pyrotechnics indoors is certainly foolish and can cause damage, but nowhere even near to this extent.
razz02748 the 1 thing that's always really bothered me is that they had a set of doors locked with chains from the inside so nobody could sneak in them, maybe if those weren't locked more people could've gotten out those doors! And knowing that Jeff was the silent partner and Michael was the person who did the daily business there, it was his decision to get the cheap soundproofing! If you're from RI you must've seen the guy who sold them the stuff on the local news say he told Michael that the stuff he bought was cheaper because it was being discontinued, I think that was on 6 or 10
A 108-second snippet of clear video is seen shortly after the 14 minute mark of this John Barylick lecture: th-cam.com/video/zUndJG44Moc/w-d-xo.html IT INCLUDES PART OF THE HOLY GRAIL, the never-before-released audiotape that Matthew Pickett, deceased, recorded inside. At 15:29, Matthew says, "Joe! Joe, take a picture!" which resulted in the photo of Jeff Rader shown later in the talk.
I guess you won't be able to read this but...The cameraman immediately spots the fire and moves toward the front entrance. That was plot convenience to allow him to film the crowd as a whole according to the script. If the cameraman hadn't seen the fire and immediately moved out from the crowd we wouldn't have the footage, would we? So even though it made little sense for him to react so perfectly and instantaneously it had to happen for the movie to be captured on film. As the cameraman reaches the front entrance he suddenly ducks out through a side door no where near the front entrance. That's because a hidden edit was made. How else could he have made his way to the front entrance and then immediately exited through the stage door near where the band was playing?
@@johnellizz: Can you leave a link and a timestamp to a video where Butler appears in two places at once? Thanks. I agree that his presence in the club that night seemed too convenient to be coincidence, but his escape was entirely sensical: He turned the camera backward on his shoulder so he could walk forward, went through the front hall, down the steps outside, kicked out a panel on the atrium room, walked along the rest of the atrium and around the corner to the stage exit. He was never seen exiting near the stage door.
@@myoldvhstapes I do admit I love this particular hoax. 'What if Spinal Tap burned down a venue and murdered everyone?' Great concept and very well executed. Yes, here's the name of the complete Butler camera video: The Station Fire / Great White - Rhode Island, 2003 th-cam.com/video/udVrQSHm8mg/w-d-xo.html (Turn down the sound and slow the video to 0.25 to see things happen slowly.) At 1:27 of the video we see a white door appear in the shot as Butler reaches the front entranceway. Notice that the edge of the door creates a split-screen effect for a moment as Butler moves his camera across the door's edge...this is a cinematic technique to disguise a hidden edit where you switch to a different shot filmed at a different time. For example, watch this video at 2:28 to see the same technique being used in "Children Of Men": How to make a movie look like one long shot th-cam.com/video/lFZGmzsvSlg/w-d-xo.html By moving the camera across a dividing line such as a door's edge you can blend two separate shots seamlessly. So after the hidden edit we immediately see the musicians watching the fiery stage area. I agree that Butler does not exit through the stage door as I originally thought. He does what exactly you described (which doesn't make much sense...why kick at a panel as if to help others escape only to quickly lose interest so he can film the disaster impassively?) Notice at 1:42 the camera films total blackness for a moment, allowing for a second hidden edit as Butler turns around to head toward the front entrance. This edit allows for the actors 'stuck' in the front entranceway to be safe from the fire we just saw at the stage exit moments earlier...for the scenes were filmed at different times. Ahh, the magic of filmmaking. The smoke coming from the windows at 1:47 is not fire-related but merely a special effect. At 1:58 we see the incredible scene of people who somehow panicked so severely that they wedged themselves into the wide doorway of the front entrance - even though they were totally calm and orderly when last we saw them just 25 seconds earlier. Shouldn't reaching the entrance have made them CALMER? How did it make them do something so outrageously silly? At 2:00 we see the man with a star on his shirt...his entire arm is free yet he chooses not to use it to leverage and pull himself free? Is he not in imminent danger of burning to death? Would he not, therefore, attempt everything possible to escape using his free arm? Instead, he looks cozy...like he's fine where he is. Shouldn't they ALL be flailing and wriggling desperately? We see a man in a white shirt next to star shirt...this man seems totally unencumbered and ought to be able to clamber over the person he's positioned on top of...we can see no obstruction preventing him. But he's good. Feels comfortable and sees no reason to make any attempt to leave? Discrepancies like this are always provided deliberately so that the observer may determine that it's a hoax if they so choose. Also notice the calmness of all of them...why so calm if they were so panicked as to wedge themselves in like that? Again, remember that they are in no danger despite the special effect of the smoke there is no fire: th-cam.com/video/1-vjgWNeTgQ/w-d-xo.html and the fiery scene at the stage entrance was filmed at a different time and edited into a 'one shot' using the hidden transition techniques. Not only are the trapped people totally calm, but the rescuers are as well. In fact, they seem almost disinterested in assisting the trapped victims. At 2:12 we see one rescuer take the time to remove his jacket! Isn't time of the essence here? But even more absurdly, he PUTS HIS JACKET BACK ON at 2:26! How does this guy have so little interest in saving the lives that he is more interested in his jacket??? The cameraman, Butler, finds it all so uninteresting that he drifts casually away at 2:04 while still filming...shouldn't he be helping out? Aren't precious lives being lost right before his eyes??? The front entrance is safe because only smoke machines are involved. Butler leaves the front entrance at 4:30 before returning at 5:49 ...and suddenly the front entrance is now an inferno! It was necessary for the camera to leave so that a hidden edit could be made. So when Butler returns to the front entrance at 5:49 it's actually much later and now actual fire can be involved without endangering any actors. Notice that we never see fire develop when the actors are struggling in the entranceway...only after Butler leaves and returns is the entrance suddenly a blazing inferno. Two hidden edits were made between 4:30 and 5:49 when the camera swept across large vehicles, creating a split-screen effect to achieve the transition. Preposterously, at 6:17 we see a figure come stumbling out of the club on fire! It's a discrepancy because the person could not have still been alive inside the club after so long. But notice the plot-convenience as Butler steadies his camera on the front entrance just in time to capture this event. He had been pointing the camera all over the place but just HAPPENED to aim it steadily at the front entrance just as the unfortunate flaming person emerged from the club? If we look again, the person does not emerge from the club...it is a stuntman wearing a fire-proof suit...he is set on fire outside of the club and walks across the front entrance. Notice that the carefully positioned bus perfectly obstructs our vision of where he came from and prevents us from seeing them set him ablaze. The difficulty people have with this is that they cannot imagine that so many others would be lying to them and enacting fictional news events. But we are in something like "The Truman Show" in which many of the 'ordinary folks' we see around us are really some sort of confederates playing their parts in a very large 'game'. This game includes hints for us to follow if we choose. We can follow the breadcrumbs to the gingerbread house...for example, they always 'telegraph' the hoaxes: In this case, examine Great White's 1999 CD release of "Stick It"...is it not the scene outside of the Station Nightclub fire from 2003? 4.bp.blogspot.com/-b-MTtW3kHUE/XKpfdpqKkNI/AAAAAAAAVJ4/DjFxpMlSdckg6Rs3fLCc3JLddQ56n1s1ACLcBGAs/s1600/Front1.jpg
To think that could have happened to me in the packed shows I have gone to is so chilling. I can't even begin to imagine how it has affected the people who survived this and especially what horrors those who died experienced. Its so disturbing just to see it on video. Those poor souls.
I had been there once for a show....way too small for pyro and 462 people. When I see this video I know I wouldn't have made it out from where I was . So sorry for all affected. May God bless the souls of those who were lost . Greed and negligence are a deadly combination.
This place was originally a restaurant and it got converted into a club. It was a death trap to begin with. The club was over capacity. There were other exits but everyone was told go out the front door. I cannot see how a fire inspector could not see the foam on the walls. Maybe the owners paid him off? Such a senseless tragedy.
Because sprinklers have been in their modern form since the late 1800's in US...but please note, they were made for protection of MERCHANDISE, NOT people. And all those codes have been around since the Iroquois in 1903, so I call BS on every doc or book that says, the such-n-so fire of 19-whatever, was not a waste, it changed the fire codes...bull. Those were there the whole time, minus the law from Boston's Cocoanut Grove, where the cheap Wolanski welded doors shut or covered them so people couldn't skip on their tabs. The revolving door stuck and killed 492, in addition to an inward opening door on another street. That's about the only changes I can name. In RI, I thought lawyer/author Barrylick said that when a building changes capacity or use, you HAVE TO install sprinklers?? That has nothing to do with the 76 law. Which this dump did several times over decades. Here's the rest of the story. A very wealthy guy (drives a Rolls), dumps this flea-bag bar onto the idiot Derderians who have "rock star dreams" (Barrylick) to the tune of 4,000 a month. the very rich owner makes sure he has no responsibility to maintain the dump in any way. Greed and more greed. So Derderians don't know WTF they're doing in the bar business...don't bother to ASK , and burn 100+ people to death, in addition to those who had to live through that.
Having escaped a foam based fire, I know how quickly they accelerate. I don't think anyone started the day thinking they were going to kill someone. However, due to negligence and greed state laws were ignored. Stiff sentences should have been metted out.
I think they were lucky the death toll wasn't twice that many! The fire happened late in the evening, so many people had been drinking for several hours. Alternate exits were not easily found unless you happened to notice beforehand, and even several who worked there, and knew the place like the back of their hand didn't survive!
Because thick smoke, toxic gas, and flaming debris was everywhere. You realistically only had 3-4 minutes to get out, and the club was over packed with 460 people. Survivors said that many people passed out from the fumes or were hit by flaming debris before they could escape.
It wasn't just polyurethane foam on the wall. Behind it was polyethylene foam, which made the fire 10 times worse. There's a video on TH-cam where they did a test, burning polyurethane foam on it's own on one side, and burning the foam combination on the other side. The difference in speed and ferocity between the two was shocking. The foam sandwich was much more deadly.
Pardon the pun- Scott Vieira got off scot free. He still lives near the club, as far as I know. Another bouncer, John Arpin, was identified by the Cormier family as the one who tried to stop them, but they pushed past him.
I had gone there once. Unbelievable that someone thought lighting off pyro in there would be ok. It was like the perfect storm....the pyro,foam,way overcrowded and bouncers who block the door in a fire and a negligent fire inspector and owners. It was a rundown roadhouse. There were more that should have been charged. Innocent people payed with their lives and so many with physical and emotiinal wounds. Never should have happened.
I just dont know how sparkling sparks make a show any better then not using it. Can you do the same with streamers and color lights? What do sparks do to make it better?Please tell me!Do the sparks make the group look like thay are super human or what?I dont know if I will ever under stand.If you are good at just playing do you need effects?
Good video and great sound. No apologies necessary. For the longest time, airplanes also had such flammable materials but supposedly that has been changed.
Lots of people to blame here for STUPID choices but I am curious if the city inspector took any responsibility. I understand that,much like cops, they are generally protected from liabilities but in this case, I simply do not believe that he "missed" that fucking foam.
RULES ARE IN PLACE FOR GOOD REASONS. The fact that soo many rules and regulations were broken is simply APPALLING!!! I drove and watched from a street behind the station club and was in absolute horror.
Make no mistake. The Derderians were responsible for the tragedy. Even more so than the band manager because all indications were that the Station did permit pyrotechnics and had done so on multiple occasions. The brothers were cheap skates, flouted fire safety practices in just about every way possible.
It's pretty stupid to try and blame the manufacturers of the foam and fireworks. Neither company forced the owner to use the products that he did. Any moron can look at the foam and know it was a bad idea, also those fireworks came in a box and I guarentee that there was a warning label on there that instructed the user to not light them indoors and to make sure all people and flammable materials are a safe distance away. The club manager is full to the brim with bullshit if he honestly thinks the company's were at fault.
You are making the assumption that humans are logical creatures. We are not. We simply have the choice to be logical. Manufacturers are responsible for informing their clients about the risks associated with their products. Data safety sheets are available world wide for flammable materials. The claim that the manufacturer did not inform the clients MUST be taken seriously. The manufactures in this case ended up paying about $30 million. Plastics are NOT possible to analyse without expert knowledge, so any moron would not be able to do the job. Fire retardant foam looks identical to flammable foam. Plastic foams are normal inside recording studios and clubs. Few people would look twice at it, because it is so normal. Manufactures have a duty of care to their clients. Using flammable foam is no better than soaking the walls with gasoline.
You can actually blame the firework manufacturers pretty easily. You are not allowed to sell that type of firework to anyone that is not a licensed pyrotechnician. They sold the fireworks and forged a license number on paperwork.
The owners and the band's production manager as well as the fire inspector all shoulder the blame for this disaster. The ONLY thing that makes it so I can even kind of deal with this horrific event is that THANKFULLY it did change rules, laws and behaviors. I think anyone that works in production, manages a hospitality oriented business or works for an authority that oversees safety regulations should really study the details and the chain of events that led to this tragedy.
This is the kind of trauma that follows you into your next life (if reincarnation is real). The owners deserve the same fate. It was all done out of GREED & laziness.
Pyro and fireworks are made for outside not for small venues God bless the people that lost there life and the ones who got out such a tragedy that should of never happened
The only thing the fire inspector looks for during a liquor license renewal inspection is the $$$$ fee for the piece of paper saying business may continue. If a business owner gets shaken down for payment, a proper FULL inspection should take place. Inspectors should also check for building permits obtained since the last "inspection"
I think it's silly to Blame Great White for this! The Fire Inspector along with the people who owned the Nightclub were the reason this happened! Who I also thin deserved charges were those stupid Bouncers who turned people away from the Exit because it was strictly for the Band to use! I guess a fire blazing behind the stage isn't enough to break that rule! How many lives could of been saved, seconds counted most here, how many could of gone threw!
That's insane. What if someone brought open flame or fireworks into your house? You can bet it'd go up just the same or worse. Whose fault would that be, then? See? :)
Are you kidding? Of course the band is to blame. They illegally set off OUTDOOR pyrotechnics inside a small club. The fire never would have happened if they didn't, wake the fuck up.
Finally an intelligent comment. Everybody else just wants to blame some ignorant heavy metal rocker for lighting gerbs or some moron bouncer for blocking an exit. I blame the club owners for basically covering their walls in gasoline and filling their club WAY over capacity. Hey Michelle M, pay attention.
Jeanie coudriet also there was other exits that people could've used to but no one knew where they were. Your right the bouncer should've been charged. I don't think Great Whites manager should've been charged either.
+Tess Isen It has disappeared from youtube. Ken should have it on the Google Drive: drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1FWXWcUSCRDZ09fMVhZMVROQUk probably in the folder "Contents not from original hard drive."
I survived an apartment fire, thinking my ex husband was involved. Flown from Cape Cod hospital to Massachusetts General Burn unit, spent 10 days. Still screwed up by this survival, I beat the beast!!!!!!!!!!
That governor of R.I.,his fellow lawmakers, failed miserably to "seat new precedence " for the country on whole. Fire inspector of west Warwick, derderian brothers, should've been held accountable! Receiving lengthy sentences! Only one whom stood up, taking responsibility was biechle. Sad rip to victims, their families and the survivors :-( PTSD putting mildly!!
I'd often wondered about the spray paint and the glue...the dual layers made it a million times worse, tho. I don't think either any glue makers or spray paint makers got sued. Tho. It doesn't say on any label that it's flammable WHEN DRY.
I think a 3-M spray adhesive was discussed in the witness statements/Grand Jury testimony of Dave Stone, the lighting tech. My memory for details has faded, though.
I hope the fire marshall that was paid off has Nightmares for the rest of his life, He should have gotten two life sentences in Federal prison!!!!!!! Rest In Peace to all of the Angels that died that night.
If I need to escape a room in an emergency, and a door or window is not available, a wall can often be torn through! Obviously, brick, steel, or concrete is nearly impossible in a short time frame, but you can tear a hole just big enough to slide through in a wall made of drywall, plaster, 2x4's and many wood based walls. Look around for furniture to help you pry through and use your legs and weight.
Woah, the co-owner himself did a REPORT on the foam 2 years earlier, about how freaking FLAMMABLE it truly is? Jesus Christ dude. W.T.F. I know nobody should ever bear the weight that's on that guy's shoulders now, and he has owned up to everything and taken his punishment and all, but you can't ignore such enormously dumb actions within this. Lord.
I don't think this club should be re-built, leave it as a Memorial site of this tragedy, If you see any of these survivors be sure to give them a GOOD HUG, They really need it.
@@Brucev7 Thanks, Bruce. Here is the new park: th-cam.com/video/UdYLT05lCXQ/w-d-xo.html Stylistically, it's a combination of a modern cemetery, a mini golf course and a Masonic lodge. First, visitors must pass through the two towers/twin pillars of Severity and Mercy, Boaz and Jachin.
Also I learned an interesting fact...proven by video proof...even if they had ordered and used the "authentic" acoustic type foam it would not have spread as quickly by at least 2 minutes but the same event would have happened but the loss of life would have been less... though I take no type of comfort in that either...all the lives were precious...and lots of great people and talent was lost..
Awful reporter. "What do you mean they were stacked and goin up? They were burning??" Uhhhhh, yeah. That's what happens in a fire Captain obvious. You need this survivor to tell you exactly what that means? Pretty plain to see. Bless all those poor people that were involved. What a tragic night.
Actually no, it is not obvious to many people. Bad crush events are thankfully very rare events and few people know anything about them. Very few people know that piles of crush victims become locked together and almost impossible to pull apart.
There's a lot that went wrong that night by the owners and the state. They said on this report about the building ia old and that it didn't need the sprinklers because it was a old building but the building had a fire once before in it and has to be rebuilt so there for it should've had sprinklers in it. There were plenty of exits but one was blocked off by a locked door in front of the door, the the bouncer was blocking one of the exits and was telling people to go the other way. That it was for the band only, then there was chains locked on 2 doors. The owners are to blame for this I dont care what any body says.. they owned it and they shouldve protected everyone in their establishment.. the club was only supposed to have a capacity of 200 people in it.. they had 400 or more in there that night!!
The chained door is a common mistake in media about this fire. Many survivors describe their escape from all four exits, including the bar door and the little-known kitchen. The AG's list of survivors shows where each occupant escaped. I spent five months reading all of the witness statements, Grand Jury testimony, etc. in the thousands of pages of publicly released records from the Attorney General's criminal investigation; plus the novel-length research thread on FindADeath, which is more accurate than the retail books sold about this event. Links to the google drive containing the entire AG's data dump are in the description if you want to have a browse.
@@myoldvhstapes really??? Before this fire I used to go to the station. I've seen many bands there.. and I know there was exits chained when I went to that club. And I also know that there was an exit door that had another door blocking it. Maybe not the night of the fire but before that happened there was chains on the doors
@@myoldvhstapes also they changed to foam in that club because I saw a kiss tribute band play there and they used pyro in there and nothing happened.. and that was a few years before the fire.. that was like 4 years before that fire happened
Whoo! Thanks, Adam! I'm hoping to finally make digital copies of these clips from the VHS tapes. Central Library here in downtown L.A. has machines for transferring old media. I have to attend a class to learn how. If it's not rocket science, I hope to start putting up much better quality uploads soon.
The deadly hydrocyanic acid gasses would soon have filled the room and the auto-ignition temperature would soon have ignited the other alcove. A few more people may have survived, but I doubt that it would have been many.
We don't need government to mandate $$$$$$$ in systems for every building, They need for that foam to not be installed by idiots into any building... That is what caused this tragedy.
0:07 - It lit up this rock & roll club like a blow torch.. WHO scripts this stuff?! Real professional. smdh... How about "lit up the club... so quickly that the crowd inside had only seconds to decide to exit"? I should have been a script writer.
Ok, but he didn't bring in a big box of fireworks... and the house you're sitting in, is no better fire-wise, actually...the couch or chair you're sitting on is likely loaded with the very same foam. Everybody but the actual owner (not Derderians. they were stupid enough to RENT this dump for 4,000 a MONTH), the paint company and the adhesive company that was used to GLUE the two layers together got sued. Would NOT shock me if anyone involved made sure they were incorporated and kept all their money away from "greedy fire victims." (being sarcastic)
Investigators talk about the "causal chain." The fire inspector, the owners, the foam vendors, the remodeling contractors, the guy who fired the pyros, and the bouncer (if that part of the story is true - I've only seen it described as a rumor, and no bouncer was ever brought to trial) were all people whose illegal and irresponsible choices were required to kill people. Remove any single bad guy, and this disaster never happens. All of those people (except the bouncer) were responsible, and all were brought to trial - civil or criminal. The fire inspector suffered for his role, but I don't remember how. He was fired, he might have been tried on criminal charges, and I think he was sued for liability. Great White was sued, but they only had to pay out the limit of what their insurance would cover, so no one in the organization was out financially, though their guitarist paid with his life. The tour manager who lit the pyros was given the same sentence as the more culpable Derderian brother (I forget which one). Most people were only charged financially for the amount their insurance would pay. The TV station the camera operator worked for paid out the largest settlement, $30,000,000, which I think is stupid. There were some who suggested that he hindered the escape of others. And to me the most shocking settlement was JBL speaker company, who paid out $800,000 because there was acoustic insulation inside their speaker cabinets. That tiny amount of insulation was well encased in the cabinets, and its contribution to the fire was negligible. Acoustic insulation is found in all PA speakers, no matter who made them.
Oh my... full pension? I remember in the investigations, he took a lot of blame, and he lost his job, but it's been a few years since I've read all that. (I was sure he was named in a lawsuit, but I think West Warwick paid out.) Odd I should remember what JBL paid but not how the Fire Marshall retired. Well, I'm glad I don't have to see his face when I look in my mirror.
I don't understand if this wasn't the first time the Station Nightclub was on fire shouldn't the owners know what the club would do by then when Great White was on the stage and what the place could with hold and so many people want to put the blame on Great White and as a drummer and backup singer it wasn't the bands fault at all it's the people that own the nightclub's fault cause they should know better and the inspectors job to check the foam really good and take a sample outside and set put fire to it and see what will happen so it doesn't make any sence at to blame the band when didn't know anything about what the club could with hold
yeah, but they brought in a huge box that read, danger: FIREWORKS. YEAH, the Derderians knew about it. Other bands they have on video did the SAME THING. Now, if they DIDN'T approve it, there'd have been a fire extinguisher or two near the stage, one of the stooges would have used it, and you'd hope that would be that... my main problem is ONLY Biechle was man enough to try and save anyone, risking his own life in the process. Everyone, including the two original band members, threw his little butt to the wolves to save themselves. The other band guys have no say in what the band does. They are hired guns. When you have a band, YOU are responsible for where you choose to play, and YOU are responsible if someone gets hurt, in my book. I'm a singer/ drummer, and I've held off shows because I had to know where a burning smell was coming from once. Idiots starting a barbecue with paper, sucked into air intake fan.
tom Messina No, Fire marshals are not baby sitters, but they are greed watchers, they are supposed to catch property owners who are doing things the cheap and dangerous way,and this one failed big time.
This reporting is so insensitive. "Lit up the town like a blowtorch" is not the right way to talk about a tragedy, especially with how many deaths there were.
My uncle was a building inspector in Boston. He once told me, "If the landlords don't hate you then you aren't doing your job right".
Now you know--do something about it.
When you enter a building, always take notice of all the exits and keep in mind that a fire can become deadly in 30 seconds. Do this every time you enter a building.
note to self.........
Or don't go into buildings at all and die from a lightning bolt.
Some of the people inside The Station did take notice of all the exits. Problem is, a bouncer was blocking one of them, and another one was reportedly chained shut. The other one was through the kitchen and would've been known only to employees. That's why most people headed for the front.
Yes awareness! Hope for the best prepare for the worst .
@@nemome5837 Yeah or you can just be a smarky asshole that jokes their way through everything. I'm a big personal responsibility guy, so that's great, whatever you want to do ctrl-Z.
That stage looked WAAAAAAY too small for ANY pyrotechnics!! I can't believe anyone thought this would be ok
Seriously. That was so irresponsible.
Theres a lot more then just a small stage at play here. Several firecodes were broken. That polyurethane foam plus spray paint was the biggest killer and a lack of fire sprinklers, the fact it was an enclosed building just turned it into a raging furnace.
@@AFellowDoktuhAnd of course had there been no pyrotechnics, it likely would never have happened, spray painted foam and fire code violations or not. It was stupid idea to have that going off in a roadhouse bar with low ceilings. Common sense should tell anyone that.
@@CygnusRoc Apparently they were duped into believing the pyrotechnics emitted "cold sparks."
Because they'd done it many times before, luckily without incident. If you know what to look for, there are videos of previous concerts at The Station in which pyro is used.
Proof: th-cam.com/video/WU5tudi0HX4/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/3rWf7aq67ko/w-d-xo.html
Lost my friend Scott griffin. Rest in peace and so very much sorry for the rest of the people who also lost some one as well
I’m so sorry for your loss. Thinking of you and all those affected by this tragedy.
That polyurethane foam is also the same that was in the cladding in the Grenfell tower fire. Why is something so flammable still being used, especially on cladding on buildings.
+Jeff Froment: Grenfell was just another mindfuck. The best lesson I learned from having my life rocked by the Station Nightclub Fire was understanding how REAL people react in REAL tragedies.
I'm not sure if all of the videos I link below are still current on youtube, but here are the best examples of the scam that I found at the time:
Plenty of laughing witnesses and survivors: This lady is laughing before her cue, then suddenly goes into character and puts on her frowny face. Just after the 4:05 mark-
th-cam.com/video/yecWfSahdOA/w-d-xo.html
There's this guy looking down the entire time, sounding like he's reciting a bunch of talking points about remembering to thank the firefighters and such. He hides a fit of duping delight at 1:40-
th-cam.com/video/KRBFMEgY4MQ/w-d-xo.html
TAKING THE MICKEY: I've seen 4 different interviews with Mickey. Of course, the bathrobe evokes much more pity in the viewer than if he had simply put on his coat. In this interview, he holds his toddler AND HER TOY SHEEP. Really?! It can't be a doll or teddy bear? Nothing subtle there, it's the network telling us what they think of their audience-
th-cam.com/video/mFTLqOFX_Co/w-d-xo.html
And after this interview, he walks behind the reporter and laughs, from about 1:25 to 1:30- th-cam.com/video/CpqE6Zk1Hng/w-d-xo.html
Jeff Froment Yeah, and didn’t they say that Britain outlawed it?
Cheap and stupid!
I remember going to a club many years ago in college park,MD. The same type of foam was used to make it look like a cave. Thank God nothing like that ever happened. No pyro was ever done in there as far as I know. Common sense! It could have been completely avoided.
@@myoldvhstapes I was living in Providence when ti happened and siren after siren ran screamed past my apartment. So many of us knew people who died. RIP to everyone who died. The only positive is I think myself and many others now check for exits when we go inside somewhere
_"Polyurethane foam. Fire safety experts call this stuff 'solid gasoline'"_ --Jeff Derderian, 2001
sean2015 he should have served more time
According to the book, he did that segment after they put the foam in the nightclub
Omg
ohhhh man. I never saw this. U cant NOT call this man a murderer.
@@rikkiweiss8011 both of those Derderian brothers should've been sent up for life.
Another example of a business owner being cheap and greedy by sacrificing safety in the name of maximized profits. They are pretty much all like this.
Derderian didn't even carry a worker's compensation policy. He was paying some of his employees under the table, and others he was just paying with free beer and concert tickets.
Chef Danger SO TRUE, Now this POS has to live with it. I HOPE the nightmares HAUNT him FOREVER!!! R.I.P. to the 100 innocent souls who lost their lives💔😢😔🙏🙏🙏
exactly!!! :(
People always want to assume a business owner is rich and just rolling in money. The fact is the place was barely turning any profit and was being threatened with shutdown due to noise complaints. Yes the owners bear responsibility but the buck should also stop with the fire marshal who failed at their job not to mention the idiocy of Great White for setting off pyrotechnics in such a confined space.
@@seric4546: The Station was a money pit. Yet the brothers came from a wealthier-than-most family. Michael sold his million dollar Cessna airplane after the fire. It was assumed he did so in order to have fewer assets that might be awarded to victims in lawsuits. When I was a youngish girl in the 80s, Archie (the brothers' dad) took my family around the RI coast in his little yacht. The only boat any of my relatives owned was a wooden canoe.
The coincidences mentioned in this story truly made my stomach turn. The footage of the fire was shot by someone doing a story on nightclub safety. Jeff Derderian had done a report on the danger of polyurethane foam for WHDH when he worked there. Ughh- it just makes me nauseous. I’m sure there are more not mentioned in this report. This horrible tragedy is almost as if someone left the gates of hell open long enough for it to reach the nightclub and swallow it whole. Those who survived were incredibly blessed. Those who did not, may they RIP.
How could the owner have not known about the dangers when he did a report on them? And according to my research, the victims' families got somewhere in the way of 800,000 dollars via settlement. That's how much one life was worth to the owners. I would've said "hell no" to any settlement...."see you in court, MFers!"
The circumstances surrounding this fire, is So similar to the fire at Supper Club in 1977. 167 people died in that fire. Very sad. The Supper club was in Kentucky.
the fire inspector must have been on the take. he and the owners HAD to know better.
Laroque was allowed to retire on full pension. That was a reward for services rendered to the Derderians.
You get what you pay for with a volunteer fire department.
Not only regarding the foam, but the constant citing of inward opening exit doors, taken off hinges and put back on the same way, year-after-year when "inspections" were completed. An even more striking example of profits over people. Worrying more about gate crashers than safe passage in an emergency. Lastly, occupancy. Pack 'em in as much as possible. It seems to me the max occupancy of 400 in that tiny tinder box was ridiculous to begin with. That horrific night, there were over 460 inside. I'd have put a bullet in my head, if I'd been responsible for all of those lives lost. How do the former owners even sleep at night?
The fire marshal ignored the foam which was covering swathes of the clubs walls. There’s only two explanations. He looked the other way or was the single most incompetent fire marshal in history.
@@johnaddeo2251 Sadly, local officials are often so desperate not to offend business owners that they let a lot of crap slide. And if course said local officials are often bribed into compliance.
Biechle is the only one brave enough to try to rescue people, and remorseful enough to plead guilty, not shirk responsibility for his part of it. this was a perfect storm of incompetence on all fronts.
I blame the Dederians, the fire marshal and whoever managed the club and was also aware of the foam before Biechele.
Like all disasters this was a perfect storm of contributing factors. No fire extinguishers, no sprinkler system, inadequate exits, a beyond capacity crowd, bouncers for the band blocking an exit at a critical moment, passing grade by fire inspectors....
If, however, I had to list one overriding factor, it was the band member who made the decision to go with the pyrotechnics that night. Any reasonable person should have known better. Of course, if I'm not mistaken, that's the one person who took blame for the situation, and actually spent time in prison. One can only imagine the guilt he felt at the time, and probably still feels today!
It's not empty words to say something good came out of this situation, but only if others learn from these mistakes. Only if these situations aren't repeated, can we say these people were not killed in vain.
You make an excellent comment....honestly I do not think Rhode Island learned...we still see dirty dealing which was a major contributor to this tragedy...so many things came together at the wrong time....some were held responsible...some were allowed to walk away....Coconut Grove happened 70 years ago....we didn't learn then....
Biechele was the only one who came out and openly admitted his involvement and apologized. That doesn't absolve him of any guilt, but you know, he stepped up and took the hit while the Derderians, fire inspectors and the band were busy pointing fingers at each other and scurrying like cockroaches in order to avoid or minimize their blame. I know there are those who may never forgive him, but I actually feel bad for him (not as much as the fire victims, of course) because he's going to be carrying that albatross around his neck for the rest of his life. No big deal if you're the kind of person that has no conscience, but he appears to be very remorseful.
You're wrong. The biggest overriding factor was the material on the wall. Walls covered in flammable foam doused in black spraypaint. Using pyrotechnics indoors is certainly foolish and can cause damage, but nowhere even near to this extent.
razz02748 the 1 thing that's always really bothered me is that they had a set of doors locked with chains from the inside so nobody could sneak in them, maybe if those weren't locked more people could've gotten out those doors! And knowing that Jeff was the silent partner and Michael was the person who did the daily business there, it was his decision to get the cheap soundproofing! If you're from RI you must've seen the guy who sold them the stuff on the local news say he told Michael that the stuff he bought was cheaper because it was being discontinued, I think that was on 6 or 10
Amen
That cameraman saw that shit right away and headed for the door.
That raw video is incredible
A 108-second snippet of clear video is seen shortly after the 14 minute mark of this John Barylick lecture: th-cam.com/video/zUndJG44Moc/w-d-xo.html IT INCLUDES PART OF THE HOLY GRAIL, the never-before-released audiotape that Matthew Pickett, deceased, recorded inside.
At 15:29, Matthew says, "Joe! Joe, take a picture!" which resulted in the photo of Jeff Rader shown later in the talk.
I guess you won't be able to read this but...The cameraman immediately spots the fire and moves toward the front entrance. That was plot convenience to allow him to film the crowd as a whole according to the script. If the cameraman hadn't seen the fire and immediately moved out from the crowd we wouldn't have the footage, would we? So even though it made little sense for him to react so perfectly and instantaneously it had to happen for the movie to be captured on film.
As the cameraman reaches the front entrance he suddenly ducks out through a side door no where near the front entrance. That's because a hidden edit was made. How else could he have made his way to the front entrance and then immediately exited through the stage door near where the band was playing?
@@johnellizz: Can you leave a link and a timestamp to a video where Butler appears in two places at once? Thanks. I agree that his presence in the club that night seemed too convenient to be coincidence, but his escape was entirely sensical: He turned the camera backward on his shoulder so he could walk forward, went through the front hall, down the steps outside, kicked out a panel on the atrium room, walked along the rest of the atrium and around the corner to the stage exit. He was never seen exiting near the stage door.
@@myoldvhstapes I do admit I love this particular hoax. 'What if Spinal Tap burned down a venue and murdered everyone?' Great concept and very well executed.
Yes, here's the name of the complete Butler camera video:
The Station Fire / Great White - Rhode Island, 2003
th-cam.com/video/udVrQSHm8mg/w-d-xo.html
(Turn down the sound and slow the video to 0.25 to see things happen slowly.)
At 1:27 of the video we see a white door appear in the shot as Butler reaches the front entranceway. Notice that the edge of the door creates a split-screen effect for a moment as Butler moves his camera across the door's edge...this is a cinematic technique to disguise a hidden edit where you switch to a different shot filmed at a different time. For example, watch this video at 2:28 to see the same technique being used in "Children Of Men":
How to make a movie look like one long shot
th-cam.com/video/lFZGmzsvSlg/w-d-xo.html
By moving the camera across a dividing line such as a door's edge you can blend two separate shots seamlessly. So after the hidden edit we immediately see the musicians watching the fiery stage area. I agree that Butler does not exit through the stage door as I originally thought. He does what exactly you described (which doesn't make much sense...why kick at a panel as if to help others escape only to quickly lose interest so he can film the disaster impassively?)
Notice at 1:42 the camera films total blackness for a moment, allowing for a second hidden edit as Butler turns around to head toward the front entrance. This edit allows for the actors 'stuck' in the front entranceway to be safe from the fire we just saw at the stage exit moments earlier...for the scenes were filmed at different times. Ahh, the magic of filmmaking. The smoke coming from the windows at 1:47 is not fire-related but merely a special effect.
At 1:58 we see the incredible scene of people who somehow panicked so severely that they wedged themselves into the wide doorway of the front entrance - even though they were totally calm and orderly when last we saw them just 25 seconds earlier. Shouldn't reaching the entrance have made them CALMER? How did it make them do something so outrageously silly?
At 2:00 we see the man with a star on his shirt...his entire arm is free yet he chooses not to use it to leverage and pull himself free? Is he not in imminent danger of burning to death? Would he not, therefore, attempt everything possible to escape using his free arm? Instead, he looks cozy...like he's fine where he is. Shouldn't they ALL be flailing and wriggling desperately?
We see a man in a white shirt next to star shirt...this man seems totally unencumbered and ought to be able to clamber over the person he's positioned on top of...we can see no obstruction preventing him. But he's good. Feels comfortable and sees no reason to make any attempt to leave? Discrepancies like this are always provided deliberately so that the observer may determine that it's a hoax if they so choose. Also notice the calmness of all of them...why so calm if they were so panicked as to wedge themselves in like that?
Again, remember that they are in no danger despite the special effect of the smoke there is no fire:
th-cam.com/video/1-vjgWNeTgQ/w-d-xo.html
and the fiery scene at the stage entrance was filmed at a different time and edited into a 'one shot' using the hidden transition techniques.
Not only are the trapped people totally calm, but the rescuers are as well. In fact, they seem almost disinterested in assisting the trapped victims. At 2:12 we see one rescuer take the time to remove his jacket! Isn't time of the essence here? But even more absurdly, he PUTS HIS JACKET BACK ON at 2:26! How does this guy have so little interest in saving the lives that he is more interested in his jacket???
The cameraman, Butler, finds it all so uninteresting that he drifts casually away at 2:04 while still filming...shouldn't he be helping out? Aren't precious lives being lost right before his eyes???
The front entrance is safe because only smoke machines are involved. Butler leaves the front entrance at 4:30 before returning at 5:49 ...and suddenly the front entrance is now an inferno! It was necessary for the camera to leave so that a hidden edit could be made. So when Butler returns to the front entrance at 5:49 it's actually much later and now actual fire can be involved without endangering any actors. Notice that we never see fire develop when the actors are struggling in the entranceway...only after Butler leaves and returns is the entrance suddenly a blazing inferno. Two hidden edits were made between 4:30 and 5:49 when the camera swept across large vehicles, creating a split-screen effect to achieve the transition.
Preposterously, at 6:17 we see a figure come stumbling out of the club on fire! It's a discrepancy because the person could not have still been alive inside the club after so long. But notice the plot-convenience as Butler steadies his camera on the front entrance just in time to capture this event. He had been pointing the camera all over the place but just HAPPENED to aim it steadily at the front entrance just as the unfortunate flaming person emerged from the club?
If we look again, the person does not emerge from the club...it is a stuntman wearing a fire-proof suit...he is set on fire outside of the club and walks across the front entrance. Notice that the carefully positioned bus perfectly obstructs our vision of where he came from and prevents us from seeing them set him ablaze.
The difficulty people have with this is that they cannot imagine that so many others would be lying to them and enacting fictional news events. But we are in something like "The Truman Show" in which many of the 'ordinary folks' we see around us are really some sort of confederates playing their parts in a very large 'game'. This game includes hints for us to follow if we choose. We can follow the breadcrumbs to the gingerbread house...for example, they always 'telegraph' the hoaxes: In this case, examine Great White's 1999 CD release of "Stick It"...is it not the scene outside of the Station Nightclub fire from 2003?
4.bp.blogspot.com/-b-MTtW3kHUE/XKpfdpqKkNI/AAAAAAAAVJ4/DjFxpMlSdckg6Rs3fLCc3JLddQ56n1s1ACLcBGAs/s1600/Front1.jpg
To think that could have happened to me in the packed shows I have gone to is so chilling. I can't even begin to imagine how it has affected the people who survived this and especially what horrors those who died experienced. Its so disturbing just to see it on video. Those poor souls.
I had been there once for a show....way too small for pyro and 462 people. When I see this video I know I wouldn't have made it out from where I was . So sorry for all affected. May God bless the souls of those who were lost . Greed and negligence are a deadly combination.
Human stupidity and laziness, greed has killed so many,
This place was originally a restaurant and it got converted into a club. It was a death trap to begin with. The club was over capacity. There were other exits but everyone was told go out the front door. I cannot see how a fire inspector could not see the foam on the walls. Maybe the owners paid him off? Such a senseless tragedy.
Human stupidity, laziness and greed is cause for so much death
Polyurethane banned in the UK in 1979 after the Woolworths fire in Manchester. I'm amazed it hasn't been banned in the states.
Mr. Booth: Because in America it's all about the money.
Because sprinklers have been in their modern form since the late 1800's in US...but please note, they were made for protection of MERCHANDISE, NOT people. And all those codes have been around since the Iroquois in 1903, so I call BS on every doc or book that says, the such-n-so fire of 19-whatever, was not a waste, it changed the fire codes...bull. Those were there the whole time, minus the law from Boston's Cocoanut Grove, where the cheap Wolanski welded doors shut or covered them so people couldn't skip on their tabs. The revolving door stuck and killed 492, in addition to an inward opening door on another street. That's about the only changes I can name.
In RI, I thought lawyer/author Barrylick said that when a building changes capacity or use, you HAVE TO install sprinklers?? That has nothing to do with the 76 law. Which this dump did several times over decades.
Here's the rest of the story. A very wealthy guy (drives a Rolls), dumps this flea-bag bar onto the idiot Derderians who have "rock star dreams" (Barrylick) to the tune of 4,000 a month. the very rich owner makes sure he has no responsibility to maintain the dump in any way. Greed and more greed. So Derderians don't know WTF they're doing in the bar business...don't bother to ASK , and burn 100+ people to death, in addition to those who had to live through that.
One would have thought. Still, change usually comes slowly, until the tragedy is in your own backyard.
Having escaped a foam based fire, I know how quickly they accelerate. I don't think anyone started the day thinking they were going to kill someone. However, due to negligence and greed state laws were ignored. Stiff sentences should have been metted out.
Oh come on. The owner Derderian KNEW the foam was highly flammable. He even ran a news segment on it.
I think they were lucky the death toll wasn't twice that many! The fire happened late in the evening, so many people had been drinking for several hours. Alternate exits were not easily found unless you happened to notice beforehand, and even several who worked there, and knew the place like the back of their hand didn't survive!
Because thick smoke, toxic gas, and flaming debris was everywhere. You realistically only had 3-4 minutes to get out, and the club was over packed with 460 people. Survivors said that many people passed out from the fumes or were hit by flaming debris before they could escape.
@@ryanjacobson2508 they had 88 seconds! and less!
It wasn't just polyurethane foam on the wall. Behind it was polyethylene foam, which made the fire 10 times worse. There's a video on TH-cam where they did a test, burning polyurethane foam on it's own on one side, and burning the foam combination on the other side. The difference in speed and ferocity between the two was shocking. The foam sandwich was much more deadly.
What I find most disturbing is that bouncer who blocked the back door. I hope he got jail time, if he survived.
Pardon the pun- Scott Vieira got off scot free. He still lives near the club, as far as I know. Another bouncer, John Arpin, was identified by the Cormier family as the one who tried to stop them, but they pushed past him.
I had gone there once. Unbelievable that someone thought lighting off pyro in there would be ok. It was like the perfect storm....the pyro,foam,way overcrowded and bouncers who block the door in a fire and a negligent fire inspector and owners. It was a rundown roadhouse. There were more that should have been charged. Innocent people payed with their lives and so many with physical and emotiinal wounds. Never should have happened.
I just dont know how sparkling sparks make a show any better then not using it. Can you do the same with streamers and color lights? What do sparks do to make it better?Please tell me!Do the sparks make the group look like thay are super human or what?I dont know if I will ever under stand.If you are good at just playing do you need effects?
WHENEVER I go into a building of ANY KIND the first thing I do is look for escape routes just Incase.💔😢🙏🙏
yes and hope bouncers or security people don't try and block them like one did here.
The Fire Inspector should have been charged for passing the building on the check.
I was on deployment when this happened, I never heard the mess deck be so quiet before.
10 seconds after lighting it: what has it been a minute?
How could the fire inspector not notice the foam? In videos, I can see it clearly.
He "claimed" not to see the foam. Thereby having no legal responsibility.
@@myoldvhstapes - I hold him more accountable than anyone. He was the “expert”
Good video and great sound. No apologies necessary. For the longest time, airplanes also had such flammable materials but supposedly that has been changed.
That building was a crematorium with a stage! Flammable foam,and paint
No, it was a bar/concert venue.
Lots of people to blame here for STUPID choices but I am curious if the city inspector took any responsibility.
I understand that,much like cops, they are generally protected from liabilities but in this case, I simply do not believe that he "missed" that fucking foam.
RULES ARE IN PLACE FOR GOOD REASONS. The fact that soo many rules and regulations were broken is simply APPALLING!!! I drove and watched from a street behind the station club and was in absolute horror.
Make no mistake. The Derderians were responsible for the tragedy. Even more so than the band manager because all indications were that the Station did permit pyrotechnics and had done so on multiple occasions. The brothers were cheap skates, flouted fire safety practices in just about every way possible.
It's pretty stupid to try and blame the manufacturers of the foam and fireworks. Neither company forced the owner to use the products that he did. Any moron can look at the foam and know it was a bad idea, also those fireworks came in a box and I guarentee that there was a warning label on there that instructed the user to not light them indoors and to make sure all people and flammable materials are a safe distance away. The club manager is full to the brim with bullshit if he honestly thinks the company's were at fault.
You are making the assumption that humans are logical creatures. We are not. We simply have the choice to be logical.
Manufacturers are responsible for informing their clients about the risks associated with their products. Data safety sheets are available world wide for flammable materials. The claim that the manufacturer did not inform the clients MUST be taken seriously.
The manufactures in this case ended up paying about $30 million.
Plastics are NOT possible to analyse without expert knowledge, so any moron would not be able to do the job.
Fire retardant foam looks identical to flammable foam. Plastic foams are normal inside recording studios and clubs. Few people would look twice at it, because it is so normal. Manufactures have a duty of care to their clients.
Using flammable foam is no better than soaking the walls with gasoline.
You can actually blame the firework manufacturers pretty easily. You are not allowed to sell that type of firework to anyone that is not a licensed pyrotechnician. They sold the fireworks and forged a license number on paperwork.
Pyrotechnics should never be allowed in a nightclub! RIP all 100 who lost their lives in this tragedy 💔
The owners and the band's production manager as well as the fire inspector all shoulder the blame for this disaster. The ONLY thing that makes it so I can even kind of deal with this horrific event is that THANKFULLY it did change rules, laws and behaviors. I think anyone that works in production, manages a hospitality oriented business or works for an authority that oversees safety regulations should really study the details and the chain of events that led to this tragedy.
But laws and regulations are only useful at stopping the law abiding.
This is the kind of trauma that follows you into your next life (if reincarnation is real). The owners deserve the same fate. It was all done out of GREED & laziness.
Pyro and fireworks are made for outside not for small venues God bless the people that lost there life and the ones who got out such a tragedy that should of never happened
Even outside fireworks are dangerous so using them indoors is just an act from absolute dickheads
What dupe! He did a report on this stuff ,then put it up in his own club!
The only thing the fire inspector looks for during a liquor license renewal inspection is the $$$$ fee for the piece of paper saying business may continue. If a business owner gets shaken down for payment, a proper FULL inspection should take place. Inspectors should also check for building permits obtained since the last "inspection"
My uncle was a building inspector in Boston. He once told me, "If the landlords don't hate you then you're not doing your job right."
I think it's silly to Blame Great White for this! The Fire Inspector along with the people who owned the Nightclub were the reason this happened! Who I also thin deserved charges were those stupid Bouncers who turned people away from the Exit because it was strictly for the Band to use! I guess a fire blazing behind the stage isn't enough to break that rule! How many lives could of been saved, seconds counted most here, how many could of gone threw!
That's insane. What if someone brought open flame or fireworks into your house? You can bet it'd go up just the same or worse. Whose fault would that be, then? See? :)
The owners knowingly put flammable foam on walls. Building inspectors were bribed.
Are you kidding? Of course the band is to blame. They illegally set off OUTDOOR pyrotechnics inside a small club. The fire never would have happened if they didn't, wake the fuck up.
Finally an intelligent comment. Everybody else just wants to blame some ignorant heavy metal rocker for lighting gerbs or some moron bouncer for blocking an exit. I blame the club owners for basically covering their walls in gasoline and filling their club WAY over capacity. Hey Michelle M, pay attention.
Jeanie coudriet also there was other exits that people could've used to but no one knew where they were. Your right the bouncer should've been charged. I don't think Great Whites manager should've been charged either.
Where did the raw footage from before the fire go?
+Tess Isen It has disappeared from youtube. Ken should have it on the Google Drive: drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1FWXWcUSCRDZ09fMVhZMVROQUk probably in the folder "Contents not from original hard drive."
My Old VHS Tapes it's back on TH-cam. So sad, so fast
Coincidentally, a film crew was documenting nightclub safety...
0:09 - is that phrasing necessary? Come on Brian, you weren't on Fox when you anchored this episode!
wait it burned down already once????
I survived an apartment fire, thinking my ex husband was involved. Flown from Cape Cod hospital to Massachusetts General Burn unit, spent 10 days. Still screwed up by this survival, I beat the beast!!!!!!!!!!
My brother got burned by gasoline when he was 9. Had to spend 11 weeks in the burn unit. A lot of pain and hell but he made it.
9:28
That is called a crowd collapse which is responsible for the loss of life and severe injuries at several other events around the world.
That governor of R.I.,his fellow lawmakers, failed miserably to "seat new precedence " for the country on whole.
Fire inspector of west Warwick, derderian brothers, should've been held accountable! Receiving lengthy sentences!
Only one whom stood up, taking responsibility was biechle.
Sad rip to victims, their families and the survivors :-(
PTSD putting mildly!!
I'd often wondered about the spray paint and the glue...the dual layers made it a million times worse, tho.
I don't think either any glue makers or spray paint makers got sued. Tho. It doesn't say on any label that it's flammable WHEN DRY.
I think a 3-M spray adhesive was discussed in the witness statements/Grand Jury testimony of Dave Stone, the lighting tech. My memory for details has faded, though.
0:27 I how can you find the full footage of that?
Check out the second half of this vid: th-cam.com/video/udVrQSHm8mg/w-d-xo.html
I hope the fire marshall that was paid off has Nightmares for the rest of his life, He should have gotten two life sentences in Federal prison!!!!!!! Rest In Peace to all of the Angels that died that night.
As usual, corrupt gov officials got off scot-free. No public official was even charged.
If I need to escape a room in an emergency, and a door or window is not available, a wall can often be torn through! Obviously, brick, steel, or concrete is nearly impossible in a short time frame, but you can tear a hole just big enough to slide through in a wall made of drywall, plaster, 2x4's and many wood based walls. Look around for furniture to help you pry through and use your legs and weight.
It would be nice if people just owned up to their mistakes and owned up to it. Sprinkler systems in EVERY building, end of story.
Fire Marshall's hands were greased
o o f that line about great britain having learned their lesson about foam...
Woah, the co-owner himself did a REPORT on the foam 2 years earlier, about how freaking FLAMMABLE it truly is? Jesus Christ dude. W.T.F. I know nobody should ever bear the weight that's on that guy's shoulders now, and he has owned up to everything and taken his punishment and all, but you can't ignore such enormously dumb actions within this. Lord.
7:50 Now doesn't this prove that the owners and the fire inspectors were to blame for the who incident. I know so.
It's frustrating that people still blame the band and some dumb bouncer. The real culprits are the owners.
Where is the Pickett audio tape? For the love of God, release it so we can HEAR THE TRUTH
It would be very helpful! I hate when information is kept hidden away like a dirty secret.
My nephews went to College in R. I., Thank God they weren’t there.
Thank You for the heart, on my post.
You are very welcome, Moe!
Wait....did that *fire safety expert* just light his torch with a lighter?
2:05 and freeze: So THAT's what 211 Cowesett looked like decades ago?? Wow.
Rest in peace all friends and family 1000 people killed
“The 80’s heavy metal band Great White” 🤦🏼♀️
Mostly blues based...
In the 70's over 300 were burned a live in an Oklahoma dance fire! Can't find info??
I don't think this club should be re-built, leave it as a Memorial site of this tragedy, If you see any of these survivors be sure to give them a GOOD HUG, They really need it.
+Kevin N The site has been made into a memorial park. It's scheduled to open at the end of next month.
Are they going to name it, Station Memorial Park, I think that would be very appropriate
Here you can see the sight razed and now(then) a memorial th-cam.com/video/mxVd3ZnvayY/w-d-xo.html
@@Brucev7 Thanks, Bruce. Here is the new park: th-cam.com/video/UdYLT05lCXQ/w-d-xo.html Stylistically, it's a combination of a modern cemetery, a mini golf course and a Masonic lodge. First, visitors must pass through the two towers/twin pillars of Severity and Mercy, Boaz and Jachin.
Also I learned an interesting fact...proven by video proof...even if they had ordered and used the "authentic" acoustic type foam it would not have spread as quickly by at least 2 minutes but the same event would have happened but the loss of life would have been less... though I take no type of comfort in that either...all the lives were precious...and lots of great people and talent was lost..
No, it would most likely not have happened, fire resistant foam would not have caught fire from those sparks.
The club owner as well as the band are at fault!!! Comon fuckin sense!!!!
Awful reporter. "What do you mean they were stacked and goin up? They were burning??"
Uhhhhh, yeah. That's what happens in a fire Captain obvious. You need this survivor to tell you exactly what that means? Pretty plain to see.
Bless all those poor people that were involved. What a tragic night.
The reporter needed to extract imagery from the witness for the viewers. That is why she was asking as visual as possible.
Actually no, it is not obvious to many people. Bad crush events are thankfully very rare events and few people know anything about them. Very few people know that piles of crush victims become locked together and almost impossible to pull apart.
There's a lot that went wrong that night by the owners and the state. They said on this report about the building ia old and that it didn't need the sprinklers because it was a old building but the building had a fire once before in it and has to be rebuilt so there for it should've had sprinklers in it. There were plenty of exits but one was blocked off by a locked door in front of the door, the the bouncer was blocking one of the exits and was telling people to go the other way. That it was for the band only, then there was chains locked on 2 doors. The owners are to blame for this I dont care what any body says.. they owned it and they shouldve protected everyone in their establishment.. the club was only supposed to have a capacity of 200 people in it.. they had 400 or more in there that night!!
The building has lost any of its 'grandfather' protections against installing sprinklers. It was required to have them.
No doors were chained.
@@myoldvhstapes yeah there was 2 doors chained and one was blocked by another door pal
The chained door is a common mistake in media about this fire. Many survivors describe their escape from all four exits, including the bar door and the little-known kitchen. The AG's list of survivors shows where each occupant escaped. I spent five months reading all of the witness statements, Grand Jury testimony, etc. in the thousands of pages of publicly released records from the Attorney General's criminal investigation; plus the novel-length research thread on FindADeath, which is more accurate than the retail books sold about this event. Links to the google drive containing the entire AG's data dump are in the description if you want to have a browse.
@@myoldvhstapes really??? Before this fire I used to go to the station. I've seen many bands there.. and I know there was exits chained when I went to that club. And I also know that there was an exit door that had another door blocking it. Maybe not the night of the fire but before that happened there was chains on the doors
@@myoldvhstapes also they changed to foam in that club because I saw a kiss tribute band play there and they used pyro in there and nothing happened.. and that was a few years before the fire.. that was like 4 years before that fire happened
they should had the concert out side the builiding and lot of peopel would of been safed by the fireworks
It was so fast smh
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Whoo! Thanks, Adam! I'm hoping to finally make digital copies of these clips from the VHS tapes. Central Library here in downtown L.A. has machines for transferring old media. I have to attend a class to learn how. If it's not rocket science, I hope to start putting up much better quality uploads soon.
My Old VHS Tapes brilliant.
Don’t use pyro, that’s how this wouldn’t have happen.
They ordered sound foam which has to be flame retardant, they received packing foam you can’t tell the difference unless you put a flame to it.
I wonder how the situation wouldve played out if only one side of the alcove caught fire instead of both.
The deadly hydrocyanic acid gasses would soon have filled the room and the auto-ignition temperature would soon have ignited the other alcove.
A few more people may have survived, but I doubt that it would have been many.
We don't need government to mandate $$$$$$$ in systems for every building, They need for that foam to not be installed by idiots into any building... That is what caused this tragedy.
The other tragedy here was the fact this lady called great white "heavy metal".
@@Dave_Albright Mostly blues based hard rock..slight metal..
🤣
0:07 - It lit up this rock & roll club like a blow torch.. WHO scripts this stuff?! Real professional. smdh... How about "lit up the club... so quickly that the crowd inside had only seconds to decide to exit"? I should have been a script writer.
+Zickcermacity I actually think it's a poetic turn-of-phrase, that rather aptly describes the unfortunate reality.
Poor people,you have to think for your self, can't trust others for safety,club owners packem in for money!
its the damn fire marshalls fault and his alone...that's the bottom line.
Ok, but he didn't bring in a big box of fireworks...
and the house you're sitting in, is no better fire-wise, actually...the couch or chair you're sitting on is likely loaded with the very same foam.
Everybody but the actual owner (not Derderians. they were stupid enough to RENT this dump for 4,000 a MONTH), the paint company and the adhesive company that was used to GLUE the two layers together got sued.
Would NOT shock me if anyone involved made sure they were incorporated and kept all their money away from "greedy fire victims." (being sarcastic)
C H A N C E absolutely, someone needs to charge his ass to. Maybe he got paid off by the owners.
Investigators talk about the "causal chain." The fire inspector, the owners, the foam vendors, the remodeling contractors, the guy who fired the pyros, and the bouncer (if that part of the story is true - I've only seen it described as a rumor, and no bouncer was ever brought to trial) were all people whose illegal and irresponsible choices were required to kill people. Remove any single bad guy, and this disaster never happens. All of those people (except the bouncer) were responsible, and all were brought to trial - civil or criminal. The fire inspector suffered for his role, but I don't remember how. He was fired, he might have been tried on criminal charges, and I think he was sued for liability.
Great White was sued, but they only had to pay out the limit of what their insurance would cover, so no one in the organization was out financially, though their guitarist paid with his life. The tour manager who lit the pyros was given the same sentence as the more culpable Derderian brother (I forget which one). Most people were only charged financially for the amount their insurance would pay. The TV station the camera operator worked for paid out the largest settlement, $30,000,000, which I think is stupid. There were some who suggested that he hindered the escape of others. And to me the most shocking settlement was JBL speaker company, who paid out $800,000 because there was acoustic insulation inside their speaker cabinets. That tiny amount of insulation was well encased in the cabinets, and its contribution to the fire was negligible. Acoustic insulation is found in all PA speakers, no matter who made them.
+Beena Plumber: Great comment, thank you for taking the time!
The Fire Marshall retired on full pension.
Oh my... full pension? I remember in the investigations, he took a lot of blame, and he lost his job, but it's been a few years since I've read all that. (I was sure he was named in a lawsuit, but I think West Warwick paid out.) Odd I should remember what JBL paid but not how the Fire Marshall retired. Well, I'm glad I don't have to see his face when I look in my mirror.
I don't understand if this wasn't the first time the Station Nightclub was on fire shouldn't the owners know what the club would do by then when Great White was on the stage and what the place could with hold and so many people want to put the blame on Great White and as a drummer and backup singer it wasn't the bands fault at all it's the people that own the nightclub's fault cause they should know better and the inspectors job to check the foam really good and take a sample outside and set put fire to it and see what will happen so it doesn't make any sence at to blame the band when didn't know anything about what the club could with hold
yeah, but they brought in a huge box that read, danger: FIREWORKS. YEAH, the Derderians knew about it. Other bands they have on video did the SAME THING. Now, if they DIDN'T approve it, there'd have been a fire extinguisher or two near the stage, one of the stooges would have used it, and you'd hope that would be that...
my main problem is ONLY Biechle was man enough to try and save anyone, risking his own life in the process. Everyone, including the two original band members, threw his little butt to the wolves to save themselves. The other band guys have no say in what the band does. They are hired guns.
When you have a band, YOU are responsible for where you choose to play, and YOU are responsible if someone gets hurt, in my book. I'm a singer/ drummer, and I've held off shows because I had to know where a burning smell was coming from once. Idiots starting a barbecue with paper, sucked into air intake fan.
OMG!!!!!
Something fishy going on here. Witchcraft 🔥
Think they planned it and it went up faster than they thought.the building was going for sale the next day maybe they wanted the insurance Money
@@maritimerhalifax1742 The sacrifice💀 was more important that the insurance pay out
I do agree here. Very sinister
Damn Shame!
jman
he's a fire marshals not a baby sitter . the owner new , greed and more greed ,its all about self will !! it will kill us all.
tom Messina No, Fire marshals are not baby sitters, but they are greed watchers, they are supposed to catch property owners who are doing things the cheap and dangerous way,and this one failed big time.
@@boataxe4605 My uncle was a building inspector in Boston. He once told me, "If the landlords don't hate you then you're not doing your job right."
And they actually died after watching this crappy band.
.
This reporting is so insensitive. "Lit up the town like a blowtorch" is not the right way to talk about a tragedy, especially with how many deaths there were.
Democrat state cost lives