Pyrotechnics start club fire in Brazil; only exit blocked; 230 dead

[No Elephants]

Jan 27, 10:41 PM EST

Deadly smoke, lone blocked exit: 230 die in Brazil

By JULIANA BARBASSA and MARCO SIBAJA
Associated Press

SANTA MARIA, Brazil (AP) -- A fast-moving fire roared through a crowded, windowless nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, filling the air in seconds with flames and a thick, toxic smoke that killed more than 230 panicked partygoers, many of whom were caught in a stampede to escape.

Inspectors believe the blaze began when a band's small pyrotechnics show ignited foam sound insulating material on the ceiling, releasing a putrid haze that caused scores of university students to choke to death. Most victims died from smoke inhalation rather than burns in what appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Survivors and the police inspector Marcelo Arigony said security guards briefly tried to block people from exiting the club. Brazilian bars routinely make patrons pay their entire tab at the end of the night before they are allowed to leave.

But Arigony said the guards didn't appear to block fleeing patrons for long. "It was chaotic and it doesn't seem to have been done in bad faith because several security guards also died," he told The Associated Press.

Later, firefighters responding to the blaze initially had trouble getting inside the Kiss nightclub because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance," Guido Pedroso Melo, commander of the city's fire department, told the O Globo newspaper.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_BRAZIL_NIGHTCLUB_FIRE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-27-22-41-03



This is inexcusable. Something very similar happened in Rhode Island in 2003 that got a huge amount of publicity. It even has its own wiki article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire



Businesses with with less than zero regard for the safety of their clientele.

[Enthusiast]

1. Indoor pyrotechnics are never a good idea. Ever....nt

[No Elephants]

2. Neither are blocked exits or too few exits.

This is the Rhode Island mess all over again.

[bikebloke]

3. Doors locked.

France24 reported yesterday that the doors were chained shut to prevent people from leaving without paying.

Though you'd think indoor pyrotechnics would be forbidden just through common sense. Not just in Brazil, but anywhere.

[Divine Discontent]

4. yes, I saw this story and thought how horrible and then,

how many times does this have to happen before flames of any kind for stage shows are not permitted in clubs? It just seems so painfully ludicrous this had to happen again. And the locking people in to make sure they pay... um, okay, I wouldn't go there, and two, they need to start paying for their drinks when they get them to stop this locked bar doors practice.