Friday, February 21, 2003

86 dead and 187 injured when the band Great White fired up its pyrotechnics and set the club on fire. I saw some video on one of the news channels that showed the fire spreading within the club, as it was happening. People were watching it like, thinking it was part of the show.

Fire Department officials said that the crowd stampeded the front entrance and didn't use the fire exits. Were they lit properly? This reminds me of the stories I used to hear, about the old movie houses and the mad rushes when there were fires inside the darkened theatres. That led to tight regulations on fire exits, signing and the like. This tragedy indicates that we could -- and maybe should -- be heading in that direction for clubs. That is, if such regulations weren't already in place and ignored.

UPDATE:: Here's the Windows Media link to the TV station that caught the fire on video just as it was developing. Let the video stram to about 2:24 through the clip to see it as it happened.

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