Kemble Scott

Late in the evening of February 20, 2003, has-been rockers Great White took the stage at a packed nightclub in Rhode Island called The Station. The metal band's show included illegal pyrotechnics that burst out of control within seconds and turned the venue into a blazing, smoke-choked inferno. Approximately 100 concertgoers died, and those who survived were left with horrible burns, lung damage, and PTSD.

Trial by Fire tells the story of that devastating night and its aftermath. The book's early chapters are written in a style reminiscent of James Patterson's. Short chapters, multiple narrative threads, and cliffhangers propel the action along. But, as the narrative progresses, it becomes an apologia for club owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, whom many deemed responsible for the fire. The author calls out Rhode Island's daily newspaper for its anti-Derderian reporting, and places much of the blame on the state’s longstanding culture of corruption.

Trial by Fire is a worthy, if more than a little biased, recounting of a man-made disaster that altered many lives.… (mehr)

On the evening of February 20, 2003, a night club called the Station, in West Warwick, Rhode Island caught fire, during a heavy metal show. It took just 90 seconds for the club to be engulfed. 100 people died and scores were terribly burned and injured. This is the story of what happened and also the story of the survivors.

Scott James uses first person interviews, gathered over several years. He also accessed News files from the days of the tragedy. He did he his job. The writing flows, the story is spellbinding. Take warning, this book is not for everyone. Descriptions of injuries and physical recovery are vivid and capable of bringing one to tears.… (mehr)

This is the story of the fire in the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, RI. It is famous. It is so famous, that it was discussed when I went through training as a fire warden in our office building.

James is meticulous about looking at all sides of this tragedy. Over 100 people died and really shouldn’t have. It could mostly have been prevented. He carefully looks at how the Derderian brothers, the club’s co-owners were blasted from all sides for the fire.

He takes a look at the impact of the fire on specific people and how they coped. He looked at the impact on the Derderians and their families. He also looked at where authorities cut corners and where they dug down.

He also shows how the fire resulted in improved fire codes for new and existing facilities.

Some of this is technical, but it mostly about people. I felt it was a good read.… (mehr)

I briefly remember hearing about this tragic event. It is very unfortunate that all these innocent lives were lost for some cool pyrotechnics. I can't even believe to really imagine what the survivors or rescuers endured through this whole ordeal. Although, in a way I kind of did have an idea by reading this book.

It is amazing when you think of the other music acts or events where pyrotechnics are still used. While, the safety code of buildings or arenas have improved, this does not mean that there is not still a risk. As with the Station fire; it was a combination of pyrotechnics, bad building code, and all around human disregard for safety rules. All it took was ninety seconds for hundreds of lives to be lost or injured in other words a flashover.

Taken from Wiki:

A flashover is the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible material in an enclosed area. When certain organic materials are heated, they undergo thermal decomposition and release flammable gases. Flashover occurs when the majority of the exposed surfaces in a space are heated to their autoignition temperature and emit flammable gases (see also flash point). Flashover normally occurs at 500 °C (932 °F) or 590 °C (1,100 °F) for ordinary combustibles and an incident heat flux at floor level of 20 kilowatts per square metre (2.5 hp/sq ft).

An example of flashover is the ignition of a piece of furniture in a domestic room. The fire involving the initial piece of furniture can produce a layer of hot smoke, which spreads across the ceiling in the room. The hot buoyant smoke layer grows in depth, as it is bounded by the walls of the room. The radiated heat from this layer heats the surfaces of the directly exposed combustible materials in the room, causing them to give off flammable gases, via pyrolysis. When the temperatures of the evolved gases becomes high enough, these gases will ignite throughout their extent.… (mehr)