Deadly smoke, lone blocked exit: 230 die in Brazil

[aGameOfThrones]

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Witnesses said a flare or firework lit by band members started the blaze in Santa Maria, a university city of about 225,000 people, though officials said the cause was still under investigation.

Television images showed smoke pouring out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless young men who had attended a university party joined firefighters using axes and sledgehammers to pound at windows and walls to free those trapped inside.

Guido Pedroso Melo, commander of the city's fire department, told the O Globo newspaper that firefighters had a hard time getting inside the club because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance."

Teenagers sprinted from the scene desperately seeking help. Others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms.
"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

The fire spread so fast inside the packed club that firefighters and ambulances could do little to stop it, Silva said.

Another survivor, Michele Pereira, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage when members of the band lit flares that started the conflagration.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward," she said. "At that point, the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak, but in a matter of seconds it spread."

Guitarist Rodrigo Martins told Radio Gaucha that the band, Gurizada Fandangueira, started playing at 2:15 a.m. "and we had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning"

"It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks. It's harmless, we never had any trouble with it.

"When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working"
He confirmed that accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other members made it out safely.



http://news.yahoo.com/deadly-smoke-lone-blocked-exit-230-die-brazil-201703681.html

[FindLiberty]

pyro FX - foam sound insulation = fire/death

This has happened before. I'll look for an old YouTube...

Ignition at 6:44 THIS IS AN OLDER VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qfm7yutOIM

[Brian4Liberty]

It's a terrible tragedy.

Where is the media hysteria over this? No calls to ban nightclubs? Ban live bands? No, that would be crazy. We need reasonable club control. No more than 10 people per club.

[angelatc]

The report I saw said that the bouncers were keeping people from leaving, because they thought people were skipping out on their bar tabs. That was part of the reason that there was a pile of bodies at the door.

[FindLiberty]

MY SAFETY RANT:

I've installed special foam acoustic panels with approved glue safely and properly...
it actually converts sound energy into (minute) heat to absorb the sound! It works great.

The important safety issue is: ALL MATERIALS MUST BE CLASS A FIRE RATED

WARNING:
The typical grey coloured acoustic foam (flat sheets used for shipping or the egg carton
shape pattern found inside a speaker enclosure, etc.): lights up easily, burns quickly,
gives off horrid choking smoke, drips flaming blobs like napalm and is generally unsafe
for exposed surfaces, ceilings and walls, etc. IMHO.

I would never put that cheap stuff in a home or pro studio, etc.
It's a Darwin Horror Show Event waiting to happen!

Use only the proper Class A rated materials (info http://www.prosoundfoam.com/Class_A_Fire_Rated_Acoustic_Foam_Products-content.aspx
As I recall from ~25 years ago, it was quite a bit more expensive than
the Class B fire rated or un-rated acoustic foam products.)

P.S. If you are going to test it with a match, remove a small chunk and
take it outdoors to a fire safe place, far away from the area! Class A is safe
since it self-extinguishes or won't burn at all, class B burns slowly, the common
shipping foam burns easily, fire spreads quickly.

Add the band's pyro effects and it's a disaster that should have been prevented.
That unrated acoustic foam should not have been there. (must always use Class A rated!!!)

P.S. BONUS TIP: Don't clean any greasy residue off of your kitchen range hood
or the kitchen walls with kerosene or gasoline either.

[youngbuck]

pyro FX - foam sound insulation = fire/death

This has happened before. I'll look for an old YouTube...

Ignition at 6:44 THIS IS AN OLDER VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qfm7yutOIM

This one is unedited. It is very horrific and disturbing.


!

[coastie]

This one is unedited. It is very horrific and disturbing.


!


That brings back memories...I was stationed in New Bedford, MA when this happened(20 minute drive, if that). I was supposed to be at that concert that night, a couple of us "older" guys were pretty psyched about seeing Great White perform.

I didn't make it because something broke on our ship earlier in the day, and by the time we got done fixing it, the concert was about to start, we all had to get showers, then drive, etc, so we instead went to a local New Bedford dive bar that night.

[youngbuck]

That brings back memories...I was stationed in New Bedford, MA when this happened(20 minute drive, if that). I was supposed to be at that concert that night, a couple of us "older" guys were pretty psyched about seeing Great White perform.

I didn't make it because something broke on our ship earlier in the day, and by the time we got done fixing it, the concert was about to start, we all had to get showers, then drive, etc, so we instead went to a local New Bedford dive bar that night.

That's nuts!:eek:

[QuickZ06]

That brings back memories...I was stationed in New Bedford, MA when this happened(20 minute drive, if that). I was supposed to be at that concert that night, a couple of us "older" guys were pretty psyched about seeing Great White perform.

I didn't make it because something broke on our ship earlier in the day, and by the time we got done fixing it, the concert was about to start, we all had to get showers, then drive, etc, so we instead went to a local New Bedford dive bar that night.

Wow, close call.

[Danke]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGytDsqkQY8

[coastie]

Wow, close call.

Yeah, luckily, no one from the ship made it out there that night, many more than just us engineers were supposed to go. We all heard about it while at the bar we ended up at, I'll never forget hearing the report and seeing the club ablaze, bodies stacked at the front entrance on the little TV above the bar. The entire bar went quiet, and we all kinda trickled back to the ship over the next hour. The drinks weren't very tasty anymore after realizing that was almost all of us in there, too.

RIP to all killed that night, and at this one in Brazil.

[coastie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGytDsqkQY8


Shitty, even for you.

[Danke]

Shitty, even for you.

Thinning of the herd.

[FindLiberty]

MY SAFETY RANT: CONTINUED...

...and bring back the good old Fire Hose (in a wall cabinet) "requirement"
(OK, a suggestion) for commercial establishments with too many people crammed
in a tight space (death trap) that has limited exits, so they at least have a fighting
chance of survival, in case of a fire. ...started by a match, lighter, pyrotechnics,
kitchen fire, oily rags, meth-lab explosion or a defective electrical device.
Yes, even electricity and water are more survivable than that poison smoke crap!

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQigncc89XsBgTfMEZtgaitDru3M2pVI fGYKRnfGZo_t7qJ1o4xWw ...or, even a handy garden hose would serve nicely.

THE TRICK IS TO PUT THE FIRE OUT QUICKLY! (as a hand gun protects better than calling 911)

[Emerick]

The report I saw said that the bouncers were keeping people from leaving, because they thought people were skipping out on their bar tabs. That was part of the reason that there was a pile of bodies at the door.

The bouncers were keeping people from leaving at first, before they could notice there was a fire. Then, people were allowed to leave.

I don't how things happen in America, but here in Brazil it's unfortunately very commom for some people to try to leave without paying their bills. That's why this happened.

Right now, we have a kind of hysteria here. Suddenly, there are reports listing every club and their safety degrees etc.

One last note: the night club didn't have an authorization to be open now, but it had before. And it was the same. It has received before an OK from the city to function. This just shows how the government can't do the most basic things...