At Least 10 Die in Rhode Island Nightclub Blaze

A huge fire engulfed a Rhode Island nightclub Thursday night during a rock band’s pyrotechnics display, causing at least 10 deaths and dozens of injuries, authorities said.

Fire Capt. Russell McGillivray said an estimated 10 to 20 people died. He said many of them were found near the front door after they apparently frantically rushed to the exits.

The blaze broke out at about 11 p.m. during a pyrotechnics display at a Great White concert at The Station in West Warwick. The club quickly went up in flames and little was left of the one-story building early today.

The blaze trapped several patrons in the building, and those who escaped were seen staggering out of a triage center. Some of them were scorched, and rescuers carried dozens of people on stretchers.

Paul Vanner, the club’s sound technician and stage manager, said one person from the band was missing.

WJAR-TV of Providence reported about 150 injuries.

Jack Russell, the lead singer of Great White, told the station he checked with the club’s manager before the show and the band’s use of pyrotechnics was approved. He said he felt the heat of the flames while on stage.

“This place went up like the Fourth of July,” he said.

Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said a flame from the pyrotechnics display hit styrofoam in the ceiling.

“Everbody knows there were pyrotechnics used in there,” he said. “We found people in a corner of the building. So there are dead people in there.”

Hundreds of firefighters and police from across the region and dozens of ambulances were on the scene.

“The place went up within a matter of two minutes,” John Kudryk of Southeastern Massachusetts told the Providence Journal. “Two of our friends, we can’t find them” because they were seated near the front.