Posted on 02/27/2003 2:03:22 AM PST by Dane
Witness describes placement of fireworks just before blaze
Another man at The Station says Great White's tour manager cursed and exclaimed as flames began to spread: "I think I'm in big trouble."
02/27/2003
BY PAUL EDWARD PARKER, JENNIFER LEVITZ and LIZ ANDERSON Journal Staff Writers
The pyrotechnic device that ignited the deadly blaze at The Station nightclub was placed on the stage just minutes before the headline band, Great White, made its entrance, according to a member of one of the warm-up acts last Thursday night.
"I saw him jump down on his knees and hurry and get this stuff ready," Al Prudhomme, drummer for the local hard-rock band Fathead, said yesterday, adding that he did not recognize the man doing the work.
Great White's lead singer, Jack Russell, acknowledged on the night of the fire that the band had used the pyrotechnics. But, until Prudhomme spoke up, no one had said publicly when the device was placed on the stage.
Mario Giamei Jr., a Sutton, Mass., mortgage broker who worked occasionally at The Station as a bouncer, said yesterday that he did not see who set up the fireworks, but that he heard Great White's tour manager, Dan Biechele, express concern moments after the walls of the club burst into flames.
"Their guy, Dan, looked at me and said, 'I think I'm in big trouble. I [expletive] this one up,' " said Giamei.
Giamei was not working for the club Thursday night -- he was there as a fan.
Thomas G. Briody, a lawyer for Biechele, said, "I would urge the public to examine with great care the accuracy of any statement attributed to people in the frenzied moments after the fire started."
Those moments were captured in pictures recently posted on a French photographic Web site, www.gamma-presse.com. The photographer, Dan Davidson, could not be reached yesterday. A spokesman for Gamma said an undisclosed party had bought the rights to the pictures, which cannot be published by other outlets until Saturday.
THE MUSIC started last Thursday night at 8:30, when Fathead ran onto the stage through machine-generated fog. Next up was Trip, which played from 9:45 to 10:30.
When The Station's house lights came up, there was a flurry of activity on the stage, as the warm-up act cleared off and Great White set up for its 11 o'clock start.
Prudhomme's wife, Charlene, had arrived from her hairdressing job nearby, and the couple watched as the stage changed over.
Al Prudhomme did not recognize Great White's road crew. One man, who seemed to be in charge, had long stringy blond hair, and sunglasses on top of his head, said Prudhomme.
They brought out a cloth backdrop with Great White's logo. They plugged in the fog machine. They gave it a test.
Then, the Prudhommes noticed Great White's pyrotechnics. Prudhomme saw at least two hollow tubes, about 8 to 10 inches long, and 2 inches wide. Each had a clear bluish cable coming from it.
For some reason, Charlene noticed the cords. Watching her husband play in clubs for almost 17 years, she had seen other bands use pyrotechnics. But the cords attached to Great White's fireworks were beefier than those she had seen before. "It seemed like a lot more of a professional set of equipment than what I had seen," she said. "I thought they must have hired someone who knows what they are doing."
Al Prudhomme also noticed the pyrotechnics, but said he did not think anything of them; he thought they were part of a small stunt. "A lot of bands use . . . 'concussion bombs.' They make a real loud banging noise and just a flash of light."
The pyrotechnics man seemed in a hurry to finish his work. Prudhomme said he did not see the club's owner around as Great White set up the fireworks.
Mario Giamei was watching from the side as Great White's singer, Jack Russell, got ready to take the stage. It seemed to Giamei the heavy metal musician was waiting for something.
Then the music began, the pyrotechnics went off and Russell jumped out on stage.
Prudhomme was surprised. "This was just nonstop sparkler," he said. "I'm saying, my God, these sparks are going all over their instruments. Must be nice to get stuff for free, and not care about burn marks."
Prudhomme had expected just a short burst. "I was thinking, look how long this is going on. Usually, one, two, three, and then it's out. But this was going off for a good solid, maybe 10 seconds."
Giamei, standing near Prudhomme, craned his neck to see around a set of tall speakers. He said he noticed fire immediately.
THE GAMMA-PRESSE photos show flames beginning to spread on the wall behind the stage, with some people racing around and others standing still.
The Providence Journal yesterday showed the photos to Giamei and Paul Vanner, The Station's sound manager and stage coordinator. Prudhomme declined to look at the pictures.
Giamei and Vanner said the people in the picture include Giamei, with his back to the camera as he watches the activity on the stage; Biechele, who appears to be hurrying off the stage as flames grow in the background, and a club worker named Scott Vieira, whose fate in the fire could not be immediately determined yesterday.
The foreground of three of the pictures shows a cardboard box with a label similar to a warning for explosives. Nothing in the pictures confirms that the box contains explosives as indicated on the label.
In two of the pictures, Giamei is standing near the box, with his back turned. In a third, Vieira, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, appears to be walking right up to the box.
Giamei said yesterday that the police showed him the same photographs and questioned him about the box. He said he did not notice it the night of the fire.
Vanner said he had never seen the box until he saw the photographs yesterday. He said he is sure he would have noticed the box earlier in the evening if it had been there then because he had talked to Great White about some equipment cases it had left nearby, in the pathway to the stage door.
"I said, 'Dude, you've got to move this stuff. That's a fire exit.' If I had seen the box . . . . " His voiced trailed off into silence.
PRUDHOMME SAID he saw someone with Great White try to douse the fire with a bottle of Poland Spring water.
Giamei had thoughts of trying to smother the flames with his jacket, but realized the fire was spreading too quickly. He heard one of the club's bouncers say, "Get a fire extinguisher." He heard Biechele curse.
Prudhomme sensed danger right away. "It was just instinct, I knew something wasn't right." He knew his wife and the rest of Fathead were near the front door. When he looked, all he could see was a slow-moving wall of people headed that way. He and several others kicked open the stage door, then ran outside and around to the front of the club.
Giamei ran toward the front door first, but hit the same wall of people. He saw members of Great White leaving through the stage door and headed that way. The club's fire alarm was blaring. "You could feel the heat coming down on you, I just knew it wouldn't be good."
Giamei saw Biechele frozen in the doorway. He shoved him out, then followed. Giamei circled to the front of the building. "By that time, smoke was pouring out of it."
He went to a side door, where he saw the club's manager, Kevin Beese, who was trying to help people out of the inferno. "He tried to run back in but he couldn't; he got knocked back with smoke," said Giamei.
Biechele had a flashlight, which he handed to Beese, according to Giamei. Beese and Giamei shined the light into the side door and yelled to those inside.
Meanwhile, Prudhomme dashed up the concrete steps to the double doors at the front of the club. Patrons were already jammed up, trying to get out. He stood at the door, grabbing arms, pulling people out. The fifth or sixth arm he grabbed was his wife, Charlene's. He pulled her over to the ground, told her to stay there, then he ran back to the door to grab more people.
Tom Conte, Fathead's singer, made it out with his girlfriend, but guitar player Steven Mancini, his wife, Andrea Mancini, and bass player Keith Mancini never made it out.
PRUDHOMME does not know who is at fault. "Part of me doesn't even blame the band. It's the pyrotechnician. It's like lighting a candle under a curtain. So many deaths for such a stupid, stupid thing."
At some point in the chaos, Giamei asked club manager Beese whether he knew Great White planned to use pyrotechnics. "He said 'Nah,' I believe him. It was the heat of the moment, and there was no time for anybody to think, 'How am I going to cover my tracks?' "
Giamei now knows he lost at least five friends in the fire -- and probably more acquaintances.
He wonders whether he could have made a difference had he yelled to people trying to get out the front door to come to the other exit. But, he said, "the whole club just went up so fast."
Vanner already is hoping to land another job running the sound system in a nightclub. But other things will come first:
"My future plans are way too many funerals."
With reports from W. Zachary Malinowski
See photos of inside The Station nightclub before the fire broke out, at:
I am surmising these pics were taken by a man with a digital camera who was up front at the satge. If you look at the WPRI footage you can see a man with a digital camera taking pictures as the WPRI cameraman goes back to the front entrance.
The photographer, Dan Davidson, could not be reached yesterday. A spokesman for Gamma said an undisclosed party had bought the rights to the pictures, which cannot be published by other outlets until Saturday.
Thomas G. Briody, a lawyer for Biechele, said, "I would urge the public to examine with great care the accuracy of any statement attributed to people in the frenzied moments after the fire started."
Lawyerese for "Oh sh!t… my client is guilty as hell."
This idiotic statement makes me take this guy's words with a grain of salt. The nature of the pyro has been well discussed in these threads abd it doesn't burn skin or instruments. Highly flammable substances are a different matter.
As for the comments about the pyro being set up "right before the band went on" - well, duh! That's when they had to be set up. That means nothing as far as "permission" or anything else goes.
It seems now, everyone is trying to take advantage of this tragedy and get their name in the press.
I think you may have misunderstood something. The fire marshall would have no way of knowing what type of pyro was used since the place had been totally consumed by fire. Yes, some do burn that hot. What they used is no different than sparklers, its like a "cold flame". It didn't burn the band members or anything else, except this foam insulation that is either obviously highly flammable or had been soaked in an accelerant.
I think when the fire marhsall made that comment he was answering a question about pyro in general. I may be wrong.
Under Rhode Island regulations, ''when a doubt exists'' as to whether a material in a club is fire retardant, the inspector should hold a match under a sample of the material in question for 12 seconds to see if it ignites. The investigator said the panel of officials looking into the blaze believe that the test did not take place.
I think I see who is going to be a party to the civil suit. The taxpayes of the State of Rhode Island will be paying for this in the end. Fire Chief will be out of a job, and who knows, there may be criminal chrages against him as well.
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