Nightclub in Bucharest Gutted by Fire - 41 Injured

January 21, 2017 - Bucharest, Romania.  A fire, believed to be started by sparklers on drinks and / or patrons smoking that ignited the roof decor, gutted the Bamboo Nightclub and sent at least 41 people to the emergency room.  No deaths have been reported.  About half of the victims were transported by Emergency Vehicles, while others made their way there on their own.  Reported injuries included smoke inhalation, hypothermia because they ran from the burning building into outdoor temperatures of -12°C (-10°F) leaving their coats behind, and sprained ankles or broken bones because they jumped from the second floor of the building to escape.

(Image ISU via AP)

One witness said that waiters were serving bottles of drinks with sparklers stuck in the tops.  Fireworks and smoking are both illegal in nightclubs and public places in Romania.  Prosecutors have begun an inquiry about the building construction, permits, staff training, insurance, inspections, and other concerns.

(Image Andreea Alexandru via AP)

The Bamboo Club was originally opened in 2002, but was destroyed by a fire in 2005, and then rebuilt.

There is no information available at this time about the building being equipped with fire sprinklers, fire alarm system, or other fire fighting equipment.

Also See:
theatresafetyblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/nightclub-fire-in-romania-kills-27.html

Nightclub Fire in Romania Kills 27, Injures 170

2015-10-31 - Bucharest, Romania - An late night fire in a basement nightclub claimed 39 lives, injured over 190, and was completely predictable and preventable.  A heavy metal band Goodbye to Gravity gave a free Halloween concert at the Colectiv nightclub just south east of the city center, and during the show some fireworks (pyrotechnics) were set-off which ignited a foam covered column that was adjacent to the stage.  Witnesses said the fire rapidly spread across the foam and pine wood covered ceiling causing a panic in the crowd.

Ironically, the band had just played 'This is the Day We Die' from their new CD "Mantras of War", and then as they started into the next song the fire started.  Delia Tugui, a Spanish teacher at the American International School of Bucharest who was at the concert with her husband and son, said club goers were surprised by how fast the fire spread and panicked.

Moments before the fire

"The lead singer made a quick joke: 'This wasn't part of the program.'  The next second, he realized it wasn't a joke and asked for a fire extinguisher," she wrote on her Facebook page.  "In 30 seconds . . . the fire spread all over the ceiling.  People rushed to the entrance but it was too narrow, and people panicked.  Behind me people stampeded, climbing over each other, to try and get out."

The fireworks spray towards the foam covered column

"I was two meters from the door and I barely got out," she told The Associated Press.  "People started pushing each other, stamping on each other, it was incredibly quick."

Patrons still smiling unaware of the hell that was about to break loose

"Friends were looking for each other under the pile of people," she said. "It was a nightmare."

She said she knew some would not escape.

"I realized that those on the other side of the bar would not get out alive."

Once she got outside there was a blast and her hair caught fire, Tugui said.

"I tried to put it out with my hands and got burned.  People behind me were burned from head to toe."

A  3D computer generated graphic of the nightclub fire can be seen here.

The band’s lead singer, Alex Pascu, was hospitalized and later died.  Antena 3 TV said bass guitarist Alex Telea was reported missing by his parents, who have been searching for him.  he is also confirmed dead.

Florentina Dinca, 38, who lives opposite the nightclub, told The Associated Press there was chaos as emergency workers tried to aid the badly burned clubgoers.

"They were very frightened, they screamed, ambulances didn't know what to do," she said.  "Girls had their hair burned, they had burns on their faces.  It was terror."

“There was a stampede of people running out of the club,” a man who escaped without shoes told Reuters.

A young woman who sustained minor injuries described the club bursting into flames.  “In five seconds the whole ceiling was all on fire. In the next three we rushed to a single door,” she told television station Antena 3.

The nightclub had only one entrance / exit and it was just 80cm wide (31 1/2").  Paul Angelescu, a reporter with ProTV, said the mayor told him the venue had all the necessary permits to operate as a club, however, they did not have permits for any pyrotechnic use.  Further investigation will determine if the facility was indeed compliant with current local building codes.

The club was said to have 300-400 in attendance that night, and some were minors. It was only permitted for 80 occupants.  In Romania it is permissible for adults to bring their children into nightclubs, and occasionally unaccompanied minors enter the clubs because the monitoring of age is very lax.

The nightclub is one of dozens of clubs and bars that have sprung up in the Romanian capital in recent years, a lively city of 3 million renowned for its nightlife and long hours.

Shooting candles and indoor fireworks are common in bars and restaurants in Romania and enforcement of fire regulations is poor.

Twelve hospitals were filled with burn and smoke inhalation victims, and hundreds lined-up outside to donate blood.  The death toll is expected to rise.

Update:  Thousands of protesters in Romania have been gathered in Bucharest expressing anger towards the government for the lax building code enforcement that led to this tragedy.  Prime Minister Victor Ponta and his Cabinet resigned Wednesday, November 4 in response to public demands for accountability.

If this story seems all-to-familiar, numerous nightclub fires have been initiated by the illegal use of pyrotechnics which ignite foam materials used for sound absorption.  These include The Station nightclub fire in 2003 at West Warwick, Rhode Island, which killed 100 people; and and the Kiss nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil, which killed 242 people.

More coverage can be found at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colectiv_nightclub_fire

This blog entry updated 2015-11-07-10:15PM

Foaming at the mouth? Well, that's better than on the stage.

Foam materials are used in many different ways on the stage, and many times no forethought is given to the legality, safety, or potential consequences that accompany these choices.  Many foam materials are very combustible, and when they do ignite, they produce an enormous amount of black toxic smoke.  This is smoke so thick that it can kill you in seconds.  Need proof of this threat?  Here are three prime examples of recent fires that were all largely foam fire related:

• The Station Nightclub Fire (2003-02-20) - 100 dead
• Kiss Nightclub Fire (2013-01-26) - 233 dead
• Cosmopolitan Hotel Patio Fire (2015-07-25)

At left is the pool deck of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.  You can see the fake palm trees that are sculpted from foam burning wildly.  NOTE THE AMOUNT OF BLACK SMOKE BEING PRODUCED.  If this was inside a theatre it would completely fill the stage house and audience chamber.

In each case, the primary source of fuel for the fire was foam based products, and in each case the smoke they produced was thick and deadly.  All too common is the use of foam insulation board like "Foamular" (see below) and "Rmax R-Matte".  This blogger sees it used for props and set walls with no attempt to enclose it or treat it with any fire retardant.  What are these people thinking!?

Also be aware that the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code specifically addresses foam materials uses in scenery and props in Article 13.4.6.11 Flame Retirement Requirements.  If you work in a theatre you should have a copy of this book.  It is fairly inexpensive and full of relevant information for theatre operations - particularly Chapter 13, but other Chapters and Annexes are very important, too.

Fire Mars 4th of July at Milwaukee's 100 Year Old Miramar Theatre

An early morning electrical fire in the basement of a theatre turned nightclub was detected by an alert employee while cleaning-up about 2:00AM Thursday, July 4th.  A faulty power receptacle is thought to have been the starting point of the fire which caused more smoke damage than anything else.

“We had an electrical fire in our office basement that basically didn’t burn like flames of fire, but it had heat and just lots of smoke, and we had the whole place filled up with smoke,” said owner William Stace.  Fortunately, no one was injured.  The facility will be closed for business until further notice.  According to Stace's employee, Aaron Ohlsson, the venue is critical to the Milwaukee music scene, and several live music acts that were scheduled for the weekend were looking for other places to perform.

The Miramar Theatre owner, Stace, said that although he was frustrated by the timing, he was glad that the damage was minimal.  Smoke damage clean-up is estimated at around $6,300.  Stace said that due to the 4-day holiday, his insurance agent was unavailable, and that cleaning crews could not start to abate the smoke damage until Monday at the earliest.  Getting the place aired-out was the main priority.  The acrid smell of smoke lingers in the theatre, and soot is everywhere.  In retrospect, he says getting a few days to calm-down and rest will be OK.

Further news are available at:
www.wisn.com/fire-breaks-out-in-east-side-theater/-/9374034/20838884/-/e2oixs/-/index.html
and
www.fox6now.com/2013/07/04/100-year-old-miramar-theatre-suffers-fire-damage

Information about the venue can be found at:  www.themiramartheatre.com

Side notes:

• Look carefully in the videos and you can see numerous code violations, so the fire trucks may return unless these issues are resolved.
• The comment about the whole place "filling up with smoke" is worthy of consideration.  Remember that it was the rapid build-up of smoke at both The Station Night Club and the Kiss Nightclub in Brazil that resulted in numerous deaths.

Killer Show - Not your normal night out.

Author and Lawyer John Barylic has summarized the events that led up-to and resulted in the 2003 fire that killed 100 people at The Station Nightclub in East Warwick, Rhode Island.  His book summarizes the mounds of documents researched on behalf of the families of those injured and killed that fateful night.

The story of the fire, its causes, and its legal and human-tragedy aftermath, is one of human lives put at risk by petty economic decisions – by a band, club owners, promoters, building inspectors and product manufacturers. Any one of those decisions could have potentially avoided the tragedy. Together, however, they formed a fatal critical mass.

Information about his book can be found at www.killershowbook.com

The site include reviews of the book, photos from the event, and links to interviews.

Photo Credit:  Daniel Davidson (Copyright holder)

Other interesting links about this event:

NIST Disaster and Failure Studies:
www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/fire/station_nightclub_fire_2003.cfm

NFPA Case Study: Nightclub Fires:
www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/research/case_study_nightclub_fires.pdf

Fire Engineering Magazine:
www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-165/issue-1/features/station-nightclub-fire-revisiting-lessons-p1.html

70th Anniversary of Cocoanut Grove Nightclub Fire

QUINCY, MA -- The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has teamed up with a number of public and private organizations to form The Cocoanut Grove Coalition to preserve the history of the monumental nightclub fire that took the lives of 492 people 70 years ago.

The deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history occurred in Boston on November 28, 1942. The coalition includes the Boston Fire Department, the Boston Fire Historical Society, Boston Fire Museum, City of Boston Archives, Boston Public Library, and Massachusetts General Hospital.

According to Sue Marsh, the NFPA’s librarian, time was of the essence as all agreed that it was vital not to let more time pass before gathering additional resources, especially personal accounts from those impacted by the fire, “knowing that if we didn’t, things would be lost.”

Three videos in which Cocoanut Grove fire victims tell their stories exemplify the rich content that has come from these collections and this project.

All of the organizations represented in the coalition have material related to the fire. The intent of the project, according to Marsh, is to provide a single way to access all of the information as well as attract additional information that is out there but has not surfaced.

The NFPA library receives more requests related to Cocoanut Grove than any other incident.

“Unlike some earlier landmark fires, like the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire in New York in 1911, the Cocoanut Grove fire did not result in significant changes to NFPA codes,” writes Fred Durso, Jr. in the November / December 2012 issue of the NFPA Journal.

However, Boston and municipalities throughout the country underwent sweeping changes, including the reclassification of nightclubs and restaurants as places of public assembly, which is how they were already regarded in the Building Exits Code. The change introduced more stringent requirements for exits, emergency lighting, occupancy capacities, and other safety features.”
For more information, visit The Cocoanut Grove Fire website, www.cocoanutgrovefire.org.

Welding Spark Causes Fire at Bronx Theater

Nov 5, 2012 - Bronx, New York.  FDNY rolled multiple fire-fighting units on Monday in response to smoke and fire at the historic landmark Paradise Theater.  The fire resulted from welding sparks that entered an air duct as work was being done to restore the 1929 venue.  Fire crews remained on the scene for several hours to ensure that the fire did not restart due to overlooked pockets that might be hidden in walls or other building voids.  Most of the damage to the building is thought to be smoke related, with some water damage.

Bronx Paradise Theater - Photo Credit: Niko J. Kallianiotis for The New York Times

The 4000 seat Paradise Theater is one of the last Atmospheric theaters that employed a dark blue ceiling to create the effect of an open night sky above the audience.  Originally designed and used for both Vaudeville shows and cinema, the interior of both the lobby and the audience chamber is ornate.  The elaborate wall murals that portray Italian Baroque buildings extend across the painted fire curtain.  More history of the building can be found at: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/900.

The auditorium is the second largest in New York, only smaller than Radio City Music Hall, and the 23rd largest auditorium ever built in the country.  It was designed by John Eberson, who was one of the most prominent theater designers in the United States and inventor of the Atmospheric style, the theater sought to transport visitors to an outdoor Baroque Italian garden of marble pillars, cypress trees, plaster replications of Michelangelo sculptures, vines, stuffed birds, and even a goldfish pond.  With a painted ceiling of stars bearing the constellation of Marcus Loews' birth sign and a smoke machine producing simulated clouds, viewers felt they were sitting under an evening sky. The result was a multi-sensory movie experience, an escape.  According to Eberson, the auditorium was "a magnificent amphitheatre under a glorious moonlit sky where friendly stars twinkled and wisps of cloud drifted."  Additional descriptions of the theater can be found at: www.placematters.net/node/1310 and:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Theater_%28Bronx,_New_York%29

Fire in Walls and Attic of Madison Union Theatre

October 8, 2012. Madison, Wisconsin.   A small fire started Monday morning at approximately 7:35 a.m. in a portion of the attic of Wisconsin Union Theater that is currently under construction.  Smoke was seen pouring out of the north side and roof of the 73-year-old theater.  Despite some problems getting to the hard-to-reach attic above the theatre, the fire was under control by 7:55am.

The Madison Fire Department firefighters were called to the scene at 7:38am and arrived three minutes later. The first crew on the scene reported a large amount of smoke coming from the side and roof of the building. A second alarm was requested to bring additional firefighters and equipment to the scene.

A fire crew entered the building and saw fire burning along the walls near the ceiling of the theater. They quickly extinguished the visible flames and began searching for access to the attic. Once an access door for the attic was located, firefighters pulled a water hose up into the attic.  They found a large fire burning in the smoke filled attic. They extinguished all visible fire and began searching for any hot spots in the walls and ceiling.

Though the main portion of the building is isolated from the theater wing, it was evacuated as a precaution.  There were no injuries to anyone working on the project.  School officials said the extent of the loss was limited because the building was already gutted for renovation and was already cleared of items like seats.  Police said the fire caused an estimated $10,000 in smoke and water damage, but the building did not suffer any structural damage.

The fire started as a result of cutting work being performed by a demolition crew. They torch cut into a section of wall that had some waxed paper content.  According to one firefighter "It started in a wall. We had a report of a worker that was doing some cutting and it got into a shaft ... from that cutting procedure that he had done... and burned up through a shaft in the wall into the attic space."

Electrical Room Fire at Golden State Theatre

2012-03-17 - Monterey, California.  A fire was reported to the Monterey Fire Department at around 12:17AM Saturday morning after four people tried to control the flames with a hand-held fire extinguisher.  Damage to the building was minimal and contained to the electrical room.  Most of the damage was smoke spreading to other parts of the venue.

A total of 16 fire crew members dealt with the incident, responding with four engines, a ladder truck, and a chief officer.  Upon arrival, firefighters detected smoke on the inside of the building, set up for fire attack, ventilation and forcible-entry operations, and then entered the room, where they found the fire still in progress.

"[It] Turns-out a plastic water pipe from a sink in another part of the building melted, leaked water into the electrical room and helped put out the fire before we got there," Roth said. "That certainly helped contain the fire to that single room, which was fortunate. If a building that large goes up, the whole block could go up.

The root cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Photo Credit:  Warren Dewey

The 1600 seat theatre underwent a renovations several years ago and is used for cinematic presentations, live shows, church services, and events featuring a large Wurlitzer Organ.

More information about the venue and pictures can be found at:

http://www.goldenstatetheatre.com/gst.html

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3688