Reminds me of the Station nightclub fire in W. Warwick RI around ‘02 or so; 400 were jammed into the place and 100 died including one band member, as well as a 19 yr old college student DJ (Nichols Coll.) etc. I drove by the site once and noticed how small the plot of land was and thought, the building itself had to have been very tiny and they jammed
400 in.
And most headed out the way they came in, not knowing about other exits or maybe thinking it was the safest one to use.
Many of the victims were jammed near that main entrance.
The Dederian Bros. owned the place IIRC and Jeff was a reporter for Ch 12 Providence. A nightclub fire killed some patrons in Chicago a week or so before and he thought it would be a great time to do a segment about safety in nightclubs and what better place than his own (plug plug plug). So a Ch 12 newsteam was there and filmed it. (As did
at least one person with a camcorder or something who left via the back door just behind the band, and provided footage of the inferno—or maybe it was a Ch 12 cameraman, don’t know.)
When will they ever learn, see below (also reminiscent of Cocoanut Grove in Boston; some exits in back may have been blocked by club owner who didn’t want people to leave without paying)
>>Reports say there was only one exit and panic spread as people tried to get out. Many victims reportedly died from inhaling toxic fumes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-21220308
It did have the capacity to hold such a crowd:
>>A reporter at the scene told local radio that the nightclub had a capacity for up to 2,000 people and was believed to be full on a Saturday night.
...but only one exit?
If you hunt around, you’ll find a live FR thread reporting that fire. Thread was posted by someone who lived down the street, as I recall. (Freepers are everywhere!)