The GREAT WHITE CONCERT FIRE (merged thread) (1 Viewer)

[Karl_Luph]

95 people confirmed dead now, it's not looking good for Great White. I think this is definitely going to be the end of this band. It will be interesting to see who's going to suck it up and claim responsiblity for this tragic mistake. I wouldn't be surprised to start hearing about lawsuits being filed.

 

[Evan S]

This is an issue nobody brings up, but it bothers me.

There was a camera team on site from a local TV station to document the concert and compare precautions taken in regards to what recently happened in a Chicago nightclub, if what I am hearing is correct.

As soon as the fire started, the camera team had the good sense to leave the establishment, knowing it was a recipe for danger and realizing it wasn't part of the show.

After that, they filmed people trying to escape the building and the flames. I know news journalists have a responsibility to report the news, but if you are sitting there holding a camera while people are trying to escape the building, aren't you negligent in your responsibility to save human life? I find it very disturbing that there is documented real time footage of this event, for if I was the cameraman, I would feel it was more important to save a life or two rather than "get the shot".

Just a thought.

Please correct me if I am using erroneous information, this is how it appeared to me from what I read on cnn.com today.

 

[Dalton]

Evan,
That cameraman (Brian Butler) led many people to safety. When he was leaving the club he told people to follow. I saw one man on the news who was looking for Mr. Butler to thank him for saving his life. Also in some of the footage you see him swing around the back of the building and yelling inside to see if there was anyone alive still in the club. I think Mr. Butler acted very responsibly.

Dalton

 

[Patrick_L]

..that may well be, but it's obvious he could have saved more lives. especially from the footage being shown at the front door. terrible.

 

[Calvin Watts III]

My iMac was fried, so I haven't been on for the past two days. This is a senseless tragedy, & a very sad day for my state. I live about twenty minutes away from The Station - it has been host to many 80's concerts.

While Brian Butler (the cameraman) did help get people out safely, I do believe that he probably could have done a bit more intially to help get people out.

Remember, though...literially 30-45 seconds after the fire started..it was pretty much no hope for those left inside. After seeing that he couldn't get back in - I think he did what he was trained to do - & that was film.

I do have a problem with the TV station he was working for, WPRI (a CBS affliate). They kept showing that footage over & over...& that tape,for many,will be the last they might ever see of their loved ones...even if just for a second.

Also missing, & most likely dead,is Dr.Metal - the overnight DJ for 94 HJY, our local rock station. He is one of the first DJ's to start playing Metal rock "back in the day"...& I for one will miss him.

According to officials,a permit should have been issued, & nobody - the band nor the club owners, got one. I think that blame will fall over many people when all is said & done.

My heartfelt wishes go out to the families of my fellow Rhode Islanders who have lost loved ones.

Calvin

 

[Dan Stone]

Regarding the cameraman not helping, read the following which is allegedly a firsthand account:

http://www.metal-sludge.com/GWGeorgeEmail.htm

It sounds like neither the cameraman, nor anyone else, could have done much for those people trapped at the door unfortunately.

I'm in no way defending people who think reporting the news is more important than helping people in trouble, but the footage the camerman shot may at least help to turn a terrible tragedy into some small amount of good by showing how quickly things can turn bad and what exactly went wrong last night. Perhaps some important lessons can be learned and changes can be made for the future. Also, it looks like the cameraman had the decency not to continue filming what took place as described in the link above.

It was a horrible situation any way you look at it.

 

[Patrick_L]

the point i'm trying to make is that he could have tried. the others were trying to pull them out maybe with his help they could've saved ONE more person.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

I do have a problem with the TV station he was working for, WPRI (a CBS affiliate). They kept showing that footage over & over...& that tape,for many,will be the last they might ever see of their loved ones...even if just for a second.

Channel 12 WPRI, none the less did a much classier job of covering it than channels 6 & 10. AS I flipped through channels 6 & 10 seemed to show the more gruesome footage of burnt people being loaded on and off of ambulances.

As far as Brian Butler, He filmed some stuff inside as it first started to happen and had some footage of the exit as he carried the camera along on his way out. That was about all I saw. And I was watching Channel 12 from about 11:30pm till about 4am in the morning. I don't believe that any of the exterior footage was filmed by him. The accounts seem to have him as shortly putting the camera down and then trying to help people out. I feel he did as much as he could have.

The ones I hate are the reporters that show up shortly after and put cameras in peoples faces and ask them moronic questions along the line of "Are you surprised by this?"

 

[RobertW]

The ones I hate are the reporters that show up shortly after and put cameras in peoples faces and ask them moronic questions along the line of "Are you surprised by this?"

or "how do you feel?"

 

[MikeH1]

ask them moronic questions along the line of "Are you surprised by this?"

No :frowning: .

This has been an accident waiting to happen for many years.

 

[Eve T]

The following is a first hand account from a member of moparts.com who was in the building while it was on fire with his wife and friend and lived to tell the tale.

I have met two of these three people. Please read his account below:

Sorry to start a new post, but I wanted you to know first hand what happened. Me, Pam, and Pete(70 Charger Convertible) went to the show last night. I'm sure you've seen the footage. We've been there many times, so when we saw the sound proofing catch fire, we knew it was not part of the show. Those that did think that didn't make it. The three of us moved quickly toward the front door. As we did the thick black smoke filled the club. As we approached the front door, approx 20 feet away, the mass of people stopped, they couldn't move, the door was jambed with people. As I looked left, I could see the flames and smoke racing toward us. I pushed the three of us toward the windows further away from the front door, and away from the fire. As we approached the windows, the smoke began to move down the walls, quickly. We had only 4 feet to the floor with no smoke and I tried to kick the windows out. It wouldn't budge. At that moment there was only 2 feet left to the floor. I don't know about Pam or Pete, but I, at that moment, thought we were going to die, by smoke, by fire. We couldn't breathe. At that moment, someone got one of the smaller windows open. Me and that guy dove out of the window, but the crowd thrust forward and we were wedged in the window, half out, half in. We finally fell the ground below. I turned to grab Pam...she wasn't there. Thick black, poisonous smoke poured out of the window. I reached in and started grabbing anything, pulling..first out, some guy, second out another guy. I was in disbelief. I was horrified, I couldn't get close enough to see or grab her. I grabbed again, it was her. As I pulled her out the flames blasted through, burning some hair on the top of her head. I helped pull more people out of the window, but no Pete. As the flames blasted out of the open window I was beside myself my friend was being burnt alive. I stood there for what seemed to be forever, watching the flames. I could do nothing...I heard my name being called, I turned. It was Pete. He had been shoved about 15 feet past the windows from the crowd. He saw an illuminated exit sign and worked toward it. He reached the door jamb and tried with all his might to get to it. He was pushed to the ground in the doorway, trampled while lying on his back. The smoke was now pouring out of the door moving quickly to the floor where he was. Someone was holding on to his ankle. He struggled and finally escaped as only 3 or 4 more people got out before the flames engulfed those that were left in the doorway. As the three of us stood, only 10 or so feet away, people, on fire, were falling out of the window. The building was an inferno in no more than 3 minutes. None of us slept last night. The adrenaline continues to surge. I write this with tears, 5 seconds away from horrific burns, 10 seconds from death. We have never seen anything so horrible, sad, tragic. Just thought I'd share it. Thanks for listening, Gary/Pam/Pete.

I cried while I read his account. I've met both him and his wife and they're great people. He did his best to save other victims inside the inferno while being terrified that he might not see his wife again.
Truly terrifying.

My condolances go out to all the friends and families of those who were taken by this tragedy. :frowning:

I never heard the camera man yelling for people to get out of the building either. Maybe he was, but I heard no such thing. I saw the wave of the hand when he was near the exit but not when he caught footage of the roof on fire, he just moved away. I don't know, it's just all so tragic, there was really not much time to react. In the scheme of things....what's 3 minutes? It's really not a whole lot of time to even register what's going on much less react.

 

[Matt Birchall]

Jesus, that's scary.

 

[Karl_Luph]

I read another account where one of the first guys to get out(barely) tried fiercely to pull others out that had gotten stacked and wedged in the front exit. As hard as he pulled he was unsucessful. As the club burned down he realized just how blessed he was to have survived and got on his knees to thank God for saving him. He then called his wife and children to tell them he loved them.

 

[Eve T]

Gary posted again just to let everyone on the other board I'm a part of know that they are doing a little better (still in shock) and are going to try to get some sleep (finally)
His wife told him that the others inside in a panic/frenzy pushed her away from the window so they could make their escape, thats why she wasn't the first person he pulled out of the window. I can't imagine reaching in one second later to pull my wife out and finding out she's no where to be found. I think I would have lost my mind. Considering that this all happened within 3 minutes I'm surprised there weren't many many more deaths. 3 minutes really isn't a lot of time for your mind to truly register what's going on let alone time enough to react very quickly when you're in a small space filled with people who are all filled with panic and thinking one thing "I've got to get out NOW!"
From what I understand, most people made the mistake of trying to leave from the exit upon which they entered the building and many didn't even think about the other escape exits in the building.
Makes me think more about my surroundings. From now on I plan to note where all exits are in a building when I enter it.

 

[Will_B]

They've got to do more than have exits. At this point club owners and the cities that regulate them are going to need to develop and implement plans for entire walls of clubs to be made essentially of doorlike panels that can be pushed open, the breadth of the entire wall.

The account of people stacked like cordwood in the exits, so tightly that they could not even be pulled out by grown men, and then burning like the wood they so horrifically resembled is impossible to ignore.

 

[Aurel Savin]

My condolances go out to anyone on the HTF who got affected by this tragedy.

The sick part of this ordeal is the following from today's Blabbermouth Report:

"According to the New York Daily News, GREAT WHITE singer Jack Russell is wasting no time in scouting for a replacement for guitarist Ty Longley, who died after a pyrotechnics display got out of control in Rhode Island on Thursday. "I personally would like to express my heartfelt condolences to those families of the loved ones who perished, as well as Ty ... in the tragedy at the Station," Russell said in a web message. "We will continue our tour with a replacement guitarist sometime in the next few days." Russell and an unspecified bandmate were seen catching a flight yesterday out of town, Providence TV stations reported last night."

Are these guys a bunch of sick f**ks or what? Who will book this band ever again? Who will go see them? I am not pinting the finger on them, or blaming them all together, but they were mostly responsible for this.

Makes me sick to be a Metal fan ...

 

[Matt Birchall]

Great White is still scheduled to perform here in Oklahoma City at a small club on March 4th, I believe.

I'm amazed they haven't cancelled (or at least postponed) it yet--first, of course, due to all the shit they're in, and second for the death of their guitarist.

Must be quite a tight-knit group they've got there. :rolleyes

 

[Thomas_C_S]

Great White, how stupid are you? The low ceilings WERE AN INDICATOR THAT YOU SHOULD NOT USE PYROTECHNICS IN THE STATION. I'm sorry for the little rant, but these people died because of the incompetance of that band. They should have known better. More lawsuits than we can imagine will probably emerge from this. They should have known better.

Clubowners, you need more exits with wider doors so that people could escape with more ease. They should be clearly marked. Make them easy to see. Paint a mural around it with bright, reflective paint use use neon. Make sure people can see the word "EXIT." Educate people. Make sure they know the way out.

These poor people died during a concert which never should have had those pyrotechnics. Do not let their deaths be in vain. We cannot, sadly, change the past, but we can work to see that this never happens again.

As for all who the blame falls upon, I hope that you have more lawsuits filed against you than one could imagine. I hope that criminal charges are filled. I hope, that this will never happen again. The blood of these victims are on your hands.

 

[Todd Stout]

There is a good editorial posted at KNAC.com written from the perspective of a club circuit tour manager.

R.I. Tragedy: As the Smoke Begins To Clear

It appears as though The Station was an accident waiting to happen. Other musicians are now coming forward and saying that they had permission of the club's owners to use pyrotechnics during their performances.

Pyrotechnics used at club by area musician

This review of a Kiss tribute band describes the use of pyrotechnics at The Station as well.

REVIEW: Hotter Than Hell

"Ace's" guitar smoked during his solo...he even peeled off the riff from Into The Void in the middle and I HOPE I'm not the only one in the crowd that caught it! "Gene" breathed an impressive ball of fire and all the goodies we love about a KISS concert were present.

Knowing now what happened during the Great White concert makes reading this that much more chilling.

 

[Eve T]

I know this isn't really relevant to the conversation at hand...but am I the only one on HTF that thinks the band "Great White" SUCKS????????

Damn they never had any talent and they still don't. Talk about a shitty band that would go and try to replace their fellow friend/band mate when his body isn't even cold.
No reverance for the dead and a very poor judgement call to be looking so quickly to get back on the road again.

Great White Sucks...STILL.