- Author
-
CNN
- Title
- Findings From Nightclub Fire Probe Expected.
- Journal
-
CNN.com,
March 2005
- Keywords
-
building fires
|
fire investigations
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fire investigators
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fire fatalities
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pyrotechnics
|
survivors
|
evacuation
|
nightclubs
|
nightclubs
- Identifiers
- Station Nightclub (Concert), West Warwick, Rhode Island (RI), February 20, 2003; National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Abstract
- PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- Fire safety experts investigating a deadly 2003 nightclub fire recommended Thursday that sprinklers be required in all nightclubs and that inspection programs be improved to prevent a similar tragedy. The National Institute of Standards and Technology released the results of its two-year investigation into the fire, which killed 100 people and injured hundreds. It calls on organizations that develop fire safety codes to adopt its 12 recommendations. Among them, it suggests tighter restrictions on the use of flammable materials in products; improved means of getting out of buildings; increasing the number of portable fire extinguishers required in nightclubs; and eliminating the practice of exempting older nightclubs from new and revised fire safety regulations. The February 20, 2003, blaze during a Great White concert at The Station started when sparks from the band's pyrotechnics set fire to flammable foam placed around the stage as soundproofing. Investigators used similar foam to conduct fire tests, finding a non-fire-retardant foam ignited within 10 seconds when exposed to a pyrotechnic device. Under similar conditions, a fire-retardant foam sample did not ignite. The agency has no regulatory authority and does not assign blame. None of the results of its probe can be used as evidence in any criminal case or lawsuit.