His footage starts off looking like any other rock gig in any other club. Brenda Cormier was there with her brother Tim, father Bruce and stepmother Donna. Another bouncer who was working that night, Scott J.But 15 years later, she said, it's time for her to move out of its. Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open. A sprinkler system would have cost the Derderians about $39,000 dollars. Your email address will not be published. Their cumulative billing rate, writes Barylick of an initial court conference of all parties, was about $200. I never thought Id see a dime, says Fisher, a former Station regular who lost many good friends that February night. He was taken to the hospital, where he remained unconscious until April. The first mini-episode was on the Cavan Orphanage Fire, and the latest is about the Byford Dolphin Incident. Family members and friends of the 100 cherished people who died as a direct result of the Station Fire founded the Station Fire Memorial Foundation in June 2003. Michael Iannone was also standing on that side of the stage, and also made for the stage door first. Donna Cormier testified that she had heard an interview with Jack Russell on the radio the previous evening; Jack Russell said on the air that there would be pyrotechnics, and that it was gonna be a monster show.. At approximately 11:07 many lives were changed forever. https://t.co/pXj2cCHDNX. Funny, I dont hear Gina Russo or any other victims complaining about thisand whatever they got, they deserve. The fire alarm cuts out and all you can hear is people screaming and yelling, some desperate for help, others desperate to help, many shocked and helpless. The crowd ahead of him, mostly clad in black t-shirts, greet the band enthusiastically with arms raised, some fists punching the air in time to the beat, others throwing the devils horn signs which have become traditional for rock fans. He was able to be in Providence, close to his daughters, and the Rhode Island attorneys treated me very well, even though I was a foreigner. Also, after overlapping paths for years, says Babcock, finally getting to work a case with John was a great experience.. Daniel Biechele, as the man who actually set off the gerbs, pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter on the 7th of February, 2006. Only then does the band stop playing; Jack Russell can be heard saying, Wow. * What Listeners Say Reviews & Comments, these have been made available on Google Drive. First, the club was owned in part by Jeffrey Derderian, a recently hired reporter for the LIN-owned, Providence-based television station WPRI. He moved quickly at first, but at the far end of the room comes practically to a standstill. There was no permit. Pyrotechnics had been used at The Station before. 646 likes. This could only be issued to a licensed pyrotechnician, and usually required a safety demonstration in advance and the presence of extinguishers at the time of use. It saddens me to note though that it takes hundreds of lives for it to be discovered or installed. These people were with Brian all the way and testified he never stopped to film. WARNING: Graphic Content. This ties the value from August 16, 2020 as the highest readings since 1913. Profile, David Bettencourt She was a beautiful person.". There had been no safety demonstration. There is a shrine for Fred Crisostomi, a painter who decided at the last minute to check out the concert, bringing his girlfriend, Gina Russo, a medical secretary and mother of two. Mathew J. Pickett; died his walkman recording was later recovered. He said his son-in-law told him his daughter only planned to stay for the fireworks and one song. Jeff and Michael Derderian, the clubs owners, avoided trial by pleading no contest. They succumbed to the combined effects of 1,000-degree heat, falling debris, and carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide from a lethal burning sandwich of polyethylene and polyurethane foam. March 1 (UPI) -- The companies associated with two shipping vessels will pay a settlement of $96.5 million to Amplify Energy over a 2021 oil spill off the coast of Southern California. Outside, it was freezing; snow banks piled up beside the roads. He was released in June 2009 for good behaviour. Linda Fisher, a friend of Julies, had come to see the band, but got press-ganged into selling Great White merchandise, because nobody else was available. She was the second hospitalized victim to succumb. According to her statement, when the band came on she was surprised that the pyrotechnics were so big; she also stated that she saw the right side catch fire right away. In total, the plaintiffs lawyers eventually shared nearly $58 million. For me the facts are if the band had not used fireworks, the fire would not have happened. As we have more details they will be posted. Outside, it was freezing; snow banks piled up beside the roads. Of course, none of this would have been an issue if not for the fire, which was started by the use of pyrotechnics. And second, WPRI cameraman Brian Butler was filming inside the club at the time of the fire. Laureen M. ''Laurie'' (DeSantis) Beauchaine, 78 Wilbur Ave Cranston, 02920 | sfmf2003@gmail.com Station Fire Memorial Foundation | 501(c)(3) charitable organization, Upcoming 20th Anniversary Prayer services. March 1 (UPI) -- Sgt. Much has changed since the last anniversary of The Station nightclub fire a 2003 blaze sparked by pyrotechnics for the '80s rock band Great White that killed 100 people. Fisher told Wagner to get on the floor where the air was better, and waited for the sprinklers to activate. Instead, she grabbed a box of CDs to identify her as being with the band and aimed for the stage door. Here is Gina's firsthand account Built like a linebacker, with a curtain of white hair, Babcock continues to unwind on the basketball court and is a regular at Red Sox spring training and playoff games. Once that happened, the crush was inevitable. The rest of the judgmentsin this case tens of millions of dollarswould be reduced by 90 percent of their total value. He said Band only exit. At the same time he pushed me back into the crowd. However, its also true of large corporations like Clear Channel, and in this case the Station. One person fell, another fell on top of them, somebody else tried to climb over but was pulled back by another person who was hoping desperately to be dragged out. For more information, please see our Residence: Perez Street, Attleboro; formerly of Rhode Island. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. At 31 seconds into the video, flame. View the 2022 Fire Hazard Severity Zone Maps for the 2007 Maps please scroll down below. During the Great White tour, they had sometimes used pyrotechnics, and sometimes not. All of it. There were no fire extinguishers to hand. There were over four hundred people in the club on that night. If he had done, he would have quickly seen it was inappropriate. Great White publicity photo from 1986. Were facing a serious situation here on the grid.. Scott James: The fire alarm you hear it kick in. When I heard them, Im like, Okay, theyre closer, Im still not burning so things are good. Then I waited for them to come in, and I could hear the walkie-talkies all their equipment, and I said, Okay, good, I hear that, thats the next step. I then assisted Patrolman Bettencourt with pulling patrons from the front entrance. Many attempting to flee were turned away from the stage door, which not only opened in, a violation of the fire code, but according to grand jury testimony, was guarded by overzealous bouncers even as the club was engulfed in flames. 5/20/23 we will be hosting a 20th anniversary ride to remember at Club Frontenac in West Warwick. Regardless, here it is 19 years now, and I think about these people, all of them, the dead, the burned, the ones who escaped unburned. John Barylick wasnt surprised when his phone started ringing early on the frigid morning of February 21, 2003. Killer Show: The Station Nightclub Fire, America's Deadliest Rock Concert. Theres no music any more. She was the one who jumped behind the wheel when her daughter Crystle, 18, needed a ride to sports practice at West Warwick High School. One guy was burnt beyond recognition to my right. March 21, 2000: Brothers Michael A. and Jeffrey A. Derderian . Biechele and Great Whites singer, Russell, both asserted that they had the Derderians permission. Or had he, as Babcock maintains, been assisting others as they surged toward the exit, guided by the light of his camera? Black smoke is already rolling above the heads of those behind him as he passes the front entrance doors and makes it out into the snowy carpark. A grand jury investigating possible criminal charges was expected to resume taking testimony this week. Probably the two most important pieces of evidence were the video shot inside the club that night, and the type of foam found to have been applied to the walls of the drummers alcove in 1996, Barylick says. At about twenty to eleven, videographer Brian Butler arrived. Although hes watched the video many hundreds of times and has analyzed it frame by frame, Barylick winces as he replays it on his laptop to illustrate a still-disputed point: had Butler, once safely outside and continuing to tapehe phoned his station to say he had some great footageblocked the door for critical seconds? Barnett, 38. . On the one hand, this is true of lawyers. He moves across the car park, telling somebody to get the bands bus out of the way it stood right across those greenhouse windows and makes his way around to the stage exit, which is standing open. In the days after the fire, there was a lot of debate about whether the clubs owners, Jeff and Mike Derderian, had given the band permission to use pyrotechnics. Butler put his camera over his shoulder, still running, and made his way through the crowd towards the front door. I KNEW JEFF PERSONALLY. The burned remnants of The Station nightclub, after . Mike Gonsalves, better known to local radio listeners as the DJ Doctor Metal, was there to introduce the bands and Patrolman Anthony Bettencourt, of the West Warwick Police, was there on a private security detail, helping to keep the crowd in order. March 1 (UPI) -- Republican Senators on Wednesday grilled Attorney General Merrick Garland for the Department of Justice's handling of attacks and arrests on anti-choice protesters, the fentanyl crisis and classified documents. (CBSLA) The Jim Fire was reported at 11:20 a.m. Wednesday along Holy Jim Trail, roughly halfway . . She would do anything for them.''. Vieira, who grew up in Swansea, married Scott, 41, and moved to Rhode Island shortly after high school. The fire was started by.Fernando Tvora. Pictures taken the following day by the West Warwick Fire Department show the extent of the damage. Firefighters worked overnight and were able to contain the blaze by 8 a.m . It begins with excited gestures from the crowd, the arrival on stage of Great White, and the ragged flair of the first burning fleck of metal igniting the soundproofing foam as the band hits its first, and last, notes. According to relatives, Vieira planned to leave the nightclub after the first couple of songs because she had to be at work early the next morning. A decade later, the fire has brought tough new code provisions for sprinklers and crowd management in nightclub-type venues in Rhode Island and other states. Stacie . www.bu.edu. and our It is one of several brush fires burning in California. Shipping companies reach $96.5 million settlement with Amplify Energy over 2021 oil spill. California Gov. The Station nightclub, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, was a pretty typical roadhouse. Babcock, of course, would have welcomed the chance to argue his clients case before a jury. In fact, he testified he went back into the club through thatdoor and directed at least a dozen people out; people who would havedied, Vieira said, "unless . . Not that the audience that night particularly cared about that they just wanted a good night out. Privacy Policy. Please save the date! Criminal prosecutions. . Combing through evidence, Barylick was reminded time and again how the smallest changes in architecture and procedure could have saved lives. LOS ANGELES Two firefighters were killed Saturday in Arizona as wildfires raged through the West, threatening California's overburdened power grid during an oppressive heat wave and ongoing drought. In only 90 seconds, a fire in the Station nightclub killed 100 people and injured hundreds more. Hey Kate, Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. It is a still from a video taken minutes before the fire broke out at the Station Nightclub in West Warrick, Rhode Island. Bettencourt will post six episodes over the next six weeks, and he hopes to release a second series about the fire next year. The fi. VIERA, SCOTT F., on March 7, 2008 at age 44. Survivors testified that they were turned away from the stage exit. But he didnt test it. "She was always kind and always seemed happy," she said. He is a disabled veteran who is studying journalism and creative writing. March 1 (UPI) -- The so-called Havana syndrome, a set of medical symptoms suffered by U.S. diplomats and military personnel overseas, is "very unlikely" caused by a foreign foe, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said. It should be noted that the fire code does not actually allow for its limits to be relaxed in this way. For the injury cases, the points were based on each dollar of medical expense, a legal shorthand that ultimately correlated well with factors not so easily measured, like degree of scarring and suffering. . At their peak in the late 80s, Great White had achieved gold and platinum success, touring around the world and appearing alongside bands like Bon Jovi and Kiss. Those words would take on a very different meaning once the night was over. So, the Station was overcrowded, with insufficient exits available, pyrotechnics were being used without permission and the walls were covered with flammable and toxic material. When you entered The Station, you passed through two sets of double doors, paid or showed your ticket at the desk, then proceeded through to the main club area. He had been assigned by Channel 12 to get some generic nightclub footage for their reporter Jeff Derderian who also happened to be co-owner of The Station. A memorial to Great White member Ty Longley, who died in the fire, is detailed with frets like the neck of a guitar. The firefighters were killed in a plane crash while conducting aerial reconnaissance over the Cedar Basin Fire near the Prescott National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management said in a statement. And that's when the crowd realizes this is a real danger and we have to get out of here. The board of The Station Fire Memorial Foundation would like to invite you to the 20th anniversary service being held at Station Fire Memorial Park. So Barylick and his team went after the law. The 2003 Talent Buyers Directory, a guide book used by agents to find venues for their bands, listed the Station with a capacity of 550 people. The problem was with how those doors were laid out. Standing just a few feet from the stage, on the right, they had a clear view. Linda Fisher was in an area to the right of the stage, usually used as a pool room, which had windows from floor to ceiling, like a greenhouse. March 1 (UPI) -- Prosecutors prepared to wrap up their case Wednesday in the double-murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, by pushing back against the defense's theory that unknown assailants were responsible. Two hundred and thirty people were injured. Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele, who set off the pyrotechnic plume that triggered the deadly inferno, would plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter. But it wasnt the eighties any more; things werent the same. Apparent inequities abound in the lawand would have to be accepted by all plaintiffs, Barylick writes in Killer Show. And it was started by pyrotechnics which were never intended to be used indoors, much less on a stage insulated with flammable materials in an overcrowded room. Richmond said he first learned that his daughter was at The Station expecting to see fireworks when he went to the scene that night. Some time later, he dropped off a sample for them. Some went for the music, some for the company they were with. . It is just so heartbreaking. His shout is not answered. And, uh, the firemen, I started to hear them say, This ones dead, That ones dead and pulling people off, and I started feeling it get a little lighter on me so I started moving a little., They pulled once they couldnt get me. Death Valley CA reached 130F todaytheir highest temperature reading of 2021. Jay Inslee to declare emergencies in their states. More details to follow. has written for many publications and websites, including theNew York Times Magazine,The Atlantic, theBoston Globe,Yankee,Outside,Redbook, theTimes of London, Salon.com, Radar.com, and Nerve.com. The flames rose up to 100 feet in places, forcing firefighters to focus on building bulldozer lines to protect homes. Vieira, who grew up in Swansea, married Scott, 41, and moved to Rhode Island shortly after high school. How it works, and why it works the way it does, is described in Killer Show: The Station Nightclub Fire, Americas Deadliest Rock Concert (University Press of New England, 2012), written by Barylick. There is more smoke, issuing from cracks in the walls, and more flames, but no exits, and no people. Brad Little and Washington Gov. Extra food support ends for millions of low-income U.S. taxpayers. In the end they were. Babcock and Barylick have known each other since they were classmates at Brown University, both graduating in 1971. performed there, using pyrotechnics in their show. Only one-third of the crowd, 132 people, escaped unharmed. One Year into the Russia-Ukraine War, Whats Next? When the last embers cooled, the death toll from the Station fire would dwarf the Chicago disaster: 100 people were dead and 230 injured. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. A cross is adorned with family photographs of Kelly Vieira, 40, a physical therapy assistant and mother of two, whose husband, Scott, who survived, was enlisted as a bouncer for the Great White concert. Richard A. Cabral Jr,friend of Skott Greene both died, Dina Ann DeMaio;Station Bartender (main bar) killed, Kevin J. Dunn His friend John Gibbs escaped, James GahanNichols College DJ and Guest of Great White; killed, Michael J. Gonsalves;"Dr. Metal" DJ at WHJY; killed, Pamela Gruttadauria; club patron and co worker of Donna Mitchell, Michael Hoosgasiantattoo customer, guest of Great White, Tracy F. Kingfront door security man died saving others, Ty LongleyGreat White guitarist killed in the fire. March 1 (UPI) -- Former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney is joining the University of Virginia's Center for Politics as a professor through the coming fall semester. The Station was a family hangout for the Vieiras, who lived about a mile from the club. While Babcock fended off assaults on LIN, the battery of defense attorneys set to work constructing legal bulwarks around the manufacturers and distributors of the flammable foam; Anheuser-Busch, which held a Budweiser promotion at the Station that night; and the company Clear Channel, which paid the emcee passing out Budweiser T-shirts and hats. It showed how truly quickly a fire can spread. At this point, many patrons of the Station were already trying to leave. McGovern devised a system specifying a base point value for every death, which was increased depending on the victims age and whether there were children or a spouse. Supporting the Great Disasters podcast on Patreon can give you access to exclusive content, including at least one mini-episode per month, and helps the show keep going. Scott Vieira was among those who escaped the fire. The building was completely gutted. Meanwhile, the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon doubled in size Saturday to nearly 77,000 acres in the Fremont-Winema National Forest, interrupting three electrical lines that transmit power from Oregon to California, energy officials said. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation. The Station Fire Memorial Foundation is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable organization and as such donations are tax deductible in accordance with IRS rules. But at the same in any other rock gig in any other club 39,000 dollars,... Bulldozer lines to protect homes of dollarswould be reduced by 90 percent of their value! Be heard saying, Wow Orphanage fire, America & # x27 ; s when the crowd 132... Put his camera over his shoulder, still running, and the latest is the! To identify her as being with the band stop playing ; Jack Russell can be heard saying Wow! This case the Station nightclub, in West Warrick, Rhode Island shortly after high school for... 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What Listeners Say Reviews & comments, these have been made available on Google.! So things are good dont hear Gina Russo or any other rock gig in other... Initial court conference of all parties, was about $ 39,000 dollars heard them, still. John Barylick wasnt surprised when his phone started ringing early on the grid.. Scott:. In California them, Im still not burning so things are good this case the Station Russell both. Station WPRI the citation daughter was at the time of the crowd lawyers eventually shared nearly $ 58 million,... U.S. taxpayers some for the company they were turned away from the club on that side of stage...
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