I have been watching the news about this too. Very sad to hear indeed. I am glad everyone here is okay. I horrified to see the news footage that was being filmed when it happened. I am talking about when the people were “bottle necked” in the door trying to get out. I was real shocked they showed that. My heart goes out to the family and friends tonight. Any new news on the guitarist Ty Longley? Last I heard was that they had identified all of the patients in the hospital, but haven’t heard if he was one of them.
I used to be a technician for live threatre and had my fancy little fireworks certification and card. (Yup, my little card said that Crayons was allowed to detonate $10,000.oo worth of high level display fireworks.) I’m now in a different branch of the entertainment industry and let my card lapse.
This is my worst nightmare.
I’ve been watching the deathtoll climb all day 39, 54, 65, 85, 95…
I hate everything I’m seeing!
Yeah, it’s “cool,” yeah it’s “pretty” but dammit, it can kill you in a heartbeat! You don’t mess with that stuff if there aren’t very, specifically controlled conditions! You don’t mess with that stuff if you aren’t a certified, well-trained and experienced technician.
And even then, I can introduce you to a certified, well-trained and experienced technician who, if you ask nicely, will take of his hat off his now-bald head so you can see the crater in the back of his cranium. During a 4th of July display, a great big charge detonated a mere 6 feet from the ground, sending one of the secondary charges smashing through the back of his skull!
A brain-damaged chimpanzee can detonate a flashpot, but he knows squat about what he’s really doing. Whether fireworks or basic flashpot F/X, way too many times I’ve seen “Og make fire!” types declare themselves to be pyro technicians because someone showed them how to make a puff of smoke on cue.
There are pages and pages of regulations – you can’t cut corners, you can’t skip a process to save a few bucks, you have to adhere to them, utterly!
I really hate what I’ve been reading. This is why I let my card lapse – it’s too damn scary. These deaths were so stupid and unnecessary. It shouldn’t have happened.
Horrific tragedy. God bless the people of Rhode Island.
And may the good lord help the the dumbasses that are held responsible.
Senseless.
Yeah, I stopped doing pyro, too. Too damn scary.
Does anyone know how to find a list of the missing/deceased? I have a couple of friends that I haven’t talked to in a couple years who live around there. Scary.
Don’t know what else to say.
When we do any pyro in stage work we have someone standing by holding a honking big fire extinguisher for each pyro device. From the video it looks like nobody was prepared. If they had half a clue there would have been someone running out trying to extinguish the flames within 5 seconds.
I’m an RI Doper, and I’m OK.
But man, what a horrible tragedy. Let’s hope there aren’t any more dead. 95 is 95 too many.
One of my good friends from a previous job is now managing a nightclub in the Providence area…I don’t know the name of it though. Nobody who knows him (that I know of anyways) have ever been out there, or can recall the name. I’ve been calling him throughtout the day, and am still getting no answer. He goes through spurts of not being home for days at a time, so this really doesn’t mean the worst necessarily, but I’m still scared as hell right now.
Everybody cross your fingers for me…and if anyone knows of a link where they’re posting survivors’ names, or otherwise, can you pass it along to me?
I cannot see how the family members of the victims of this tradegy will ever manage to get financial compensation in a law suit ( yes, I know, it doesn’t balm the wounds, etc) as there are **96 ** people dead.
If the average suing was , say, a million per victim, that’s 96 million! this is not some major corporation, it is a small night club and a has-been rock band and their promoters, which, as of right now, the finger pointing is rampant.
Not knowing a thing about insurance, I can only hazard a guess that the night clubs insurance wouldn’t have a policy that could possibly cover for such a horrendous event…
Mr. Ujest and I were trying to figure out where the lawsuits were going to be stuck first. Nightclub? Sure, but not much money in the take. Band? See above reason. Promoter? See above reason.
My cynical bet, even though all news reports say that the Fire Dept. said everything in the club that wasn’t up to code at the last inspection but had been corrected, will be lobbed at the City of Warwicke Fire Department for some loophole or minor problem that wasn’t up to code and they failed to follow up on it. The city, in our non-lawyerly view, is the biggest cash cow.
Everyone is a loser in the end, but the lawyers.
Ugh Shirley, I hadn’t thought of that but it is so true! Money can’t bring anybody back but welcome to the land o the lawyers! Kids in West Warwick won’t get textbooks for decades to cover this disaster! (We all know the money always drains from the most needed stuff first!)
My first thought was wow how cynical but that’s really how people operate.
Well, I know my mother in law is going to spend all day tomorrow(atually today, but I haven’t been to bed yet) trying to get ahold of my nephew or his mother (divorced from the family).
As I came in from work this morning this is what I am hit with. Not knowing if he was there or not. I know he being just 21 loves to go out and I know he lives in Warwick but not sure East or West.
After my nephew, Euty was the first person I thought of. Sorry to the other RI dopers out there, but I remember Euty starting a thread about Warwick and commenting on the pronounciation of the town.
I’ve also now got to call a friend here in my town and ask if he has friends and family in that area still since he and my nephew used to discuss it all the time.
What a crappy end to a crappy night.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all dopers and non-dopers who are still waiting to hear from friends and family.
The other thing about this happening in Rhode Island… it’s such a small state and made up of so many communities that just about everyone will either know someone who died, or know someone who knew someone who died. I’ve seen a list of survivors and recognized names, haven’t seen a victim’s list yet. My coworker’s girlfriend’s sister is among the missing/not yet identified. I haven’t tried to contact my friends that hang at the Station because I figure no news is good news. If they were dead I’d hear about it.
Euty’s right, this stuff just… doesn’t happen here. 10 was a staggering number. 96 is just… beyond belief. The whole state is in shock pretty much.