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

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.

Nightclub Fire in Brazil kills 235, injures over 140

The following report is excerpted from an article in by Associated Press writer JULIANA BARBASSA Original content here:  http://news.yahoo.com/no-alarm-only-1-exit-brazil-nightclub-fire-002812171.html 

SANTA MARIA, Brazil (AP) — The nightclub Kiss was hot, steamy from the press of beer-fueled bodies dancing close. The Brazilian country band on stage was whipping the young crowd into a frenzy, launching into another fast-paced, accordion-driven tune and lighting flares that spewed silver sparks into the air.

It was another Saturday night in Santa Maria, a university town of about 260,000 on Brazil's southernmost tip.

Then, in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning, January 27th, it turned into a scene of indescribable horror as sparks lit a fire in the soundproofing material above the stage, churning out black, toxic smoke as flames raced through the former beer warehouse, killing 233 people.

Picture Tweeted just as the blaze started

"I was right there, so even though I was far from the door, at least I realized something was wrong," said Rodrigo Rizzi, a first-year nursing student who was next to the stage when the fire broke out and watched the tragedy unfold, horror-stricken and helpless.

"Others, who couldn't see the stage, never had a chance. They never saw it coming."

A security guard said afterward that the club was at its estimated maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000 people.

There was no fire alarm, no sprinklers, no fire escape. In violation of state safety codes, fire extinguishers were not spaced every 1,500 square feet, and there was only one exit.

As the city buried its young Monday, questions were raised about whether Brazil is up to the task of ensuring the safety in venues for the World Cup next year, and the Olympics in 2016. Four people were arrested for questioning, including two band members and the nightclub's co-owner.

Rizzi hadn't even planned on going out that night. He was talked into it by friends and knew dozens at the club. He said the first sign of a problem was insulation dripping above the stage.

The flames at that point were barely noticeable, just tiny tongues lapping at the flammable material. The band's singer, Marcelo dos Santos, noticed it and tried to put out the smoldering embers by squirting water from a bottle.

The show kept going. Then, as the ceiling continued to ooze hot molten foam, dos Santos grabbed the drummer's water bottle and aimed it at the fire. That didn't work either, Rizzi said. A security guard handed the band leader a fire extinguisher. He aimed, but nothing came out; the extinguisher didn't work.

At that point, Rizzi said, the singer motioned to the band to get out. Rizzi calmly made his way to the door — the club's only exit — still thinking it was a small fire that would quickly be controlled.

The cavernous building was divided into several sections, including a pub and a VIP lounge — and hundreds of the college students and teenagers crammed in couldn't see the stage. They continued to drink and dance, unaware of the danger spreading above them.

Then, the place became an inferno.

The band members who headed straight for the door lived. One, Danilo Brauner, went back to get his accordion, and never made it out.

The air turned dense and dark with smoke; there was no light, nothing pointing to the single exit. Rizzi found himself clawing through a panicked crowd that surged blindly toward the door.

"I was halfway across the floor, I could see the door, but the air turned black with this thick smoke," he said. "I couldn't breathe. People started to panic and run toward the door. They were falling, screaming, pulling at each other."

The manager, meanwhile, was outside dealing with a drunk and belligerent young man. No one there had any inkling of the desperate scene unfolding just beyond Kiss' black, sound-proof double doors, said taxi driver Edson Schifelbain, who was in his car, waiting for passengers.

A security guard poked his head out and said there was a fight. A fraction of a second later, someone inside yelled "Fire!" The manager opened the doors and it was like opening the gates of hell, Schifelbain said. 

Young men and women, mouths and eyes blackened with soot, clothes tattered, tumbled out screaming and crying. Some ran right over his taxi and two other cabs parked nearby, breaking mirrors, windshields, bashing in the doors. Horrified, he realized his cab was in their way, but couldn't move it because there were bodies hunched over it, collapsed in front of the tires, everywhere.

"The horror I saw in their faces, the terror, I'll never forget," he said. Two girls gasping for air climbed into his car, and as soon as he was able, he sped the six miles (10 kilometers) to the university hospital.

"One of them was crying all the way, screaming, 'My friend is dying,'" he said. "I did what I could. I don't know what happened to those girls." 

Inside the club, metal barriers meant to organize the lines of people entering and leaving became traps, corralling desperate patrons within yards of the exit. Bodies piled up against the grates, smothered and broken by the crushing mob.

Rizzi was stuck, unable to move, taking in gulps of smoke, feeling the gaseous mix burn his lungs.

He was within seconds of passing out, he said, when the whole frenzied mass suddenly lurched forward. The gates gave way, and everyone toppled over. Rizzi was lying on top of two or three people, several more heaped on top of him. He stuck out his hands, smacking them against the sidewalk and door.

Someone pulled him to safety. "To get out, I climbed, I pulled people's hair. I felt other people grabbing me, hitting me in the face," he said. "It's hard to describe the horror. But once I was outside, I recovered, and started pulling out the others."

Soon, he said, the street was a sea of bodies.

This was the scene 24-year-old Gabriel Barcellos Disconzi found when he arrived about 3:30 a.m., an hour after fire broke out. Wakened by a phone call from friends, the club regular immediately started pulling out bodies as smoke spewed so thick that entering the building was unthinkable. 

Using sledgehammers and picks and their bare hands, he and other young men broke down the walls. Born and bred in Santa Maria, the outgoing young lawyer had dozens of friends and acquaintances inside.

"It was all so fast, there was no time for anything, no time for crying over a friend," he said. "It was dead people over here, living over there. Body after body after body."

Both Rizzi and Disconzi were there when they broke into one of the bathrooms and found a tableau of nearly indescribable desperation: It was crammed with bodies, tangled and tossed like dolls, piled as high as Rizzi's chest. In the darkness and confusion, concert-goers had rushed into the bathroom thinking it was an exit. They died, crushed and airless in the dark.

"I'll never forget the wall of people," Rizzi said. Disconzi helped load them into a truck. Just the dead jammed into that bathroom filled an entire truck, he said.

By this time, the city was waking up to the dimension of the tragedy unfolding at its heart. Doctors, nurses and psychologists began arriving, giving immediate assistance — checking eyes and respiratory passages, stabilizing the burned, resuscitating those whose hearts had stopped or lungs had failed because of the smoke. The living they loaded into ambulances. The mounting number of dead went into trucks.

At Charity Hospital, the region's largest, "It was a war scene," said Dr. Ronald Bossemeyer, the technical director. "Trying to give care, comfort the living, and keep family members who started to arrive from overwhelming everything — it was madness," he said, choking back tears. "The wounded, the doctors, people running with saline, with oxygen. We've never seen so many patients." 

As families waited, nurses and technicians ran back and forth, bringing an earring, a shoe, a wallet, anything that could help identify those still living, Bossemeyer said.

As doctors were at work saving those who could be saved, a group of mothers was calling around to check on one another. Elaine Marques Goncalves woke up to that terrible question: Do you know where your child is? 

With a jolt, she realized two of her sons, Gustavo and Deivis, had not come home the night before. "I knew they'd gone to a club, but I didn't know which one," she said. Trying to keep calm, she joined the multitude pressing for news outside the hospital.

Hours later, she got some good news: Gustavo had burns on 20 percent of his body and had suffered two heart attacks as his lungs failed to draw oxygen, but he was alive and being flown to the state capital, Porto Alegre, for treatment. 

"I had time to put my hands on him and say, 'My dear, your mother is here with you,'" she said. "He was sedated, but I know he could hear. Then I had to tear myself away and go find my other son."

Hours passed as the dead piled up in the city gym. It took an entire day of anguish before she learned what she'd dreaded most: Deivis was dead.

As he lay there among basketball hoops and water coolers, one body among so many, she asked the questions on everyone's mind.

"How can a club just burn like that? People have to know what happened here," she said. "It won't bring back my son, but I have to ask. This nightclub was beyond capacity. The whole world has to know. Why couldn't they get out?"

*********************

Police were questioning the club's owner and interviewing witnesses as part of an investigation into what caused the blaze, state-run Agencia Brasil reported.

The club's license had expired in August and had not been renewed, local fire official Moises da Silva Fuchs told Globo TV.

In total, at least 235 [as of 1/30/2013] died - almost an even number of men and women - while over 140 people were treated in hospitals, Reuters reported.

Reinaldo Azevedo, writing on the Veja news website, asked why the fire department had previously approved a venue with only one exit. "Our grief must also exercise wrath," he wrote. "This is not a tragedy manufactured by chance. It is the work of a chain of negligence."

Ongoing updates about this event can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_nightclub_fire 

A good commentary and news summary from the Ingorsoll-Rand Door Hardware Company's blog site I Dig Hardware: http://idighardware.com/2013/01/kiss-nightclub-santa-maria-brazil/

*********************

1940 - Rhythm Nightclub, Natchez, Mississippi - 209 fatalities.

1942 - Coconut Grove Nightclub - Boston, Massachusetts - 492 deaths.

1977 - Beverly Hills Supper Club - Southgate, Kentucky - 165 dead.

1981 - Stardust Nightclub - Dublin, Ireland - 48 killed.

1996 - Ozone Disco Pub - Quezon City, Phillipines - 162 died.

In 2000, 309 people were killed in a fire at club in Luoyang, China. 

2003 - Epitome Nightclub - Chicago, Illinois - 21 fatalities.

A 2003 nightclub fire killed 100 people in Rhode Island at The Station Nightclub after the rock band Great White illegally used pyrotechnics that ignited combustible foam soundproofing that lined the walls and ceilings of the venue.


Another celebration where fireworks ignited ceiling décor occurred in Buenos Aires, Argentina's República Cromagnon nightclub in 2004; the death toll there was 194.

A 2009 fire at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, was caused by fireworks igniting plastic decorations on the ceiling; 152 died as a result.

It's about time . . . to replace your smoke detector.

Most theatres have Smoke Detectors as a part of their Fire Detection and Alarm System.  For many years these devices have been the bane of Stage Managers because they unexpectedly trip a Fire Alarm when smoke, fog, haze, dust or other atmospheric effects are used during shows.  Building and Fire codes have recognized this problem and some now require that smoke detectors in the fly loft are replaced with Rate-of-Rise type thermal detectors. These detectors are not sensitive to visible atmospheric effects, but instead look at how rapidly the temperature changes.  That works great if you have a burning fire, but does little to detect a smoldering fire.  A smoldering fire can ruin drapes and scenery, and if unchecked, can leak smoke into other parts of a facility as well.

In recognition that fires are serious events in performance spaces, and also that false alarms can be quite disruptive to a show, several manufacturers have developed sensors that employ multiple fire detection technologies.  One of these stands-out above the rest and should be considered when upgrading your systems to meet the current fire safety codes (or to get rid of those pesky false alarms):  It is the 2251-COPTIR Advanced Multi-Criteria Fire Detector manufactured by System Sensor (http://www.systemsensor.com/).

The sensor’s four elements — photoelectric, thermal, carbon monoxide (CO), and infrared — all work together to intelligently analyze the environment and decide whether the sensors are detecting a true fire condition or a nuisance condition. The Advanced Multi-Criteria Fire Detector samples the environment every five seconds with each of these four elements and will only sound the alarm when at least two of the four elements positively confirm a fire.

Having these sensing elements working in tandem is what sets the detector apart from any other technology available on the market. The confirmation and intelligent assessment capabilities will also prove to be ideal for places that are prone to nuisance alarms. Such sites include theaters and other entertainment venues that use special effect smoke.

“It allows us to provide the most accurate fire detection possible while providing superior nuisance rejection for those problem sites,” said Todd Alford, product manager. “Different fires have different characteristics, and each fire is a little bit different. By combining four elements, we can successfully filter out nuisance concerns and provide accurate fire detection.”

One side note:  The detector's CO (Carbon Monoxide) sensor has a limited life span and must be replaced about every 5-6 years.  The good news is that just because the CO detector ceases to function after that time, doesn't mean that the rest of the Multi-Function fire detector quits working - it just looses one of it's areas of sensitivity.  A small price to pay for virtually no false alarms.  Besides that, if you KNOW it must be replaced after a finite time, then you can PLAN FOR IT, and GET IT IN THE BUDGET and ONTO THE MAINTENANCE CALENDAR — what a concept — planning for an equipment failure — before it happens.
 
Check-out their web site — it has cool videos demonstrating the technology, data sheets, white papers, and more.

Also,  System Sensor OEM's this product to multiple Fire Alarm Panel manufacturers.  Notifier offers it as IntelliQuad with the model number FSC-851.  Gamewell-FCI offers it as 4-WARN with the model number FCS-4-WARN.  Honeywell offers it as COPITR, with the model number TC840C1000.  And finally, Johnson Controls offers it as COPTIR with the model number 2951J-COPTIR.

Caveat:  Fly lofts above stages can become very warm in the summer months, particularly in warmer climates, so warm in fact, that conventional 165°F fusible links can sometimes separate prematurely.  Selecting, configuring, and installing the correct type of sensor must be done by a licensed fire protection professional so that all of these factors can be taken into account.  Don't expect them to fully understand the temperature profile of your fly loft - have them measure it under worst-case conditions so they know what to expect.