It happened again. This time, it was in Brazil, where 238 people were killed when fire raged through a nightclub in late January. It will take time to sort out all of the factors that led to the fire and to the carnage, including locked or inaccessible fire exits and clueless venue staff, but initial reports point yet again to a sadly familiar scenario: live pyrotechnics used in an enclosed space, with less-than-ideal supervision and apparently little in the way of planning for potentially disastrous outcomes.
Early reports on the tragedy point to a member of the band Gurizada Fandangueira, which was performing at the club that night, lighting a flare and holding it over his head, igniting material on the ceiling above the stage. Apparently, at least some people know this was coming — The New York Times’ news story on the tragedy on Jan. 28 indicated that the band “advertises the use of pyrotechnics in its publicity materials.” One is immediately reminded that this closely parallels what happened in 2003, at the Station nightclub in Warwick, RI, where the band Great White’s tour manager Daniel Biechele ignited unapproved pyro devices, setting fire to flammable acoustic foam around the drums that quickly engulfed the entire club, killing 100 people. The first picture on the Wiki page for that tragedy clearly shows a box marked “explosive” and “danger” sitting in plain view 40 seconds after the fire erupted. The same picture also shows a club staff member next to that box with a lit cigarette in his mouth. For too long, the operative philosophy regarding the use of pyro inside enclosed spaces seems to have been, “What could possibly go wrong?”
The litany of pyro-induced disaster is long, including fatal fires in venues from Russia to China to Ecuador, all within the last decade. Unfortunately, the responses to these tragedies have been less than effective. A handful of those judged responsible have been sentenced to relatively minimal prison time; many millions of dollars have been awarded as compensation (though far less has actually been paid, thanks to declarations of bankruptcy by some of the indicted); and while awareness of the dangers of mixing pyro and indoor performances is momentarily heightened in the wake of each catastrophe, meaningful changes in codes and regulations have been scandalously scarce. For instance, after the Station fire in 2003, a trade group began lobbying efforts to develop possible tax incentives that could induce faster and wider adoption of sprinklers in these types of venues. However, according to the Congressional Quarterly, the National Fire Sprinkler Association’s attempts to influence legislation at the national level have gone nowhere. And even if they were to succeed, enforcement would likely remain a problem. Again, going back to the Station calamity, as it turned out, fire inspectors had approved the club’s lack of sprinklers because of a “grandfather” clause to recent code updates failed to realize that the Station’s conversion from restaurant to nightclub shortly before the fire took away that exception to the rules.
» Time To Get Real
The real answer lies in unilaterally prohibiting the use of live pyrotechnics inside certain types of venues. Period. Nationally. That’s not a position that’s going to be popular with a lot of mausic venues or artists. There’s a reason that we’re still seeing fireworks going off in enclosed spaces ranging from stadiums to pubs with stages. Our primeval fascination with fire increases with our proximity to it. But, sadly, the adult supervision is simply too often lacking.
And we have an alternative. LED lighting has reached an impressive point in its technological arc: the kinds of motion and depth that it can achieve allow it to rival and some would say exceed what can be done with live pyro. Take a look at what EDM artists like Deadmau5 are doing with LED lighting designs. DJs are the entire show, so the technology context around them has to be enough to fill the stage. And in the case of LED, it can, with designs that are every bit as visually explosive as the gerb fountains that Great White had set up on their stage, but without the attendant potential for disaster. In fact, the lighting arena at the recent NAMM Show — which ended the same weekend that the Brazil tragedy was unfolding — offered plenty of increasingly affordable and sophisticated LED cube solutions that can create brilliant effects that might blind you for a minute but certainly won’t burn you to death.
Evicting pyro unilaterally from clubs and small to mid-sized venues would also put most of the fireworks back in the hands of responsible professionals who know what they’re doing. Horrors like Brazil and Rhode Island paint the entire market sector of pyro with a tainted brush, and make its use more circumspect even in environments where it makes sense to use live pyro, such as at large-scale outdoor events.
Restricting the use of live pyro is smart business, for promoters, musicians and other artists, crewmembers, venue owners, and lighting designers and developers. But the real costs of tragedies like these can’t be measured in money, but rather by the voids left by people who went out one night to have a good time and never came back.
Other Pyro-Sparked Tragedies
The pyro-sparked fire that ripped through the packed Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil Jan. 27, killing 238 and seriously injuring more than 120, wasn’t the first time when open flame, dangerous décor and a lack of exits, sprinklers and fire extinguishers turned a night of celebration into tragedy.
Lame Horse Nightclub, Perm, Russia, 2009:
Celebratory fireworks ignited plastic decorations on the ceiling; 152 died.
República Cromañón Nightclub,Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004:
Fireworks ignited ceiling décor; 194 died.
The Station Nightclub, West Warwick, RI, 2003:
Pyro ignited foam insulation; 100 died.
Feb. 20, 2013 was the 10th memorial for the Station fire’s victims. The site of the former nightclub is still vacant, covered with a patchwork of home-built shrines and crosses in memory of those who died. A nonprofit group broke ground last month on a permanent memorial. Along with a 30-foot entrance, plans call for an Aeolian harp that will create music from the movement of the blowing wind.
