KRTSt. Louis club owners reevaluated their safety procedures over the weekend as relatives mourned the death of 97 people at the site of a nightclub fire in Rhode Island.
“We, and I’m sure every other facility in town, walked through to double check everything after the events that occurred in Rhode Island,” said Joe Edwards, owner of Blueberry Hill and the Pageant. He added, “When we built the Pageant, it was really important to build it with fire safety in mind.”
The Rhode Island fire began after the band Great White used a pyrotechnic display as part of its hard-rock performance. The fireworks ignited a fast-moving blaze which killed 97 people and injured another 187 this past Thursday.
Pyrotechnic displays are not allowed without a permit in Rhode Island, and local officials have said that a permit was not issued to The Station, the club where the fire occurred.
Authorities in Rhode Island also have raised questions about whether the club was crowded beyond its capacity and about the sound-proofing material used at the club.
As a result, the St. Louis Fire Department is questioning whether local clubs meet the city’s safety standards. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, fire inspectors surprised more than a dozen clubs by performing unannounced inspections last Friday night between 9 p.m. and midnight, the peak party hours.
The inspectors checked to make sure clubs had the proper number of exits, that those exits were properly marked, and that clubs had basic fire safety equipment, such as extinguishers.
Several downtown venues were cited for having non-functional fire extinguishers and malfunctioning exit signs.
Other local clubs had already taken additional precautions, even before the Rhode Island tragedy.
“We always have adequate exits because our room isn’t very big,” said Vinny Frohlich, a manager at Cicero’s, a bar in the Delmar Loop. “Because there was an electrical fire here two years ago, we are very fire cautious.”
However, some students are still concerned for their safety, especially considering that the Rhode Island fire comes on the heels of a stampede in a Chicago club, which resulted in the death of 21 people.
“With the type of music I go to see, it’s generally pretty dangerous. I realize it’s dangerous to go see some of these shows,” said freshman Aaron Duffy. “When I go see a hard rock show, I go for the energy, and in some cases I’m expecting to defend myself. I was at a show at Pop’s [a local club], and I was a little worried. But I still went. I guess I just took the risk.”
As relatives of the dead gather in Rhode Island, officials are pledging to make clubs safer. Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri announced a temporary ban on indoor pyrotechnic displays and ordered fire and building inspectors to re-examine all public venues in the state to check for safety problems. Here in St. Louis, Fire Marshall Charles Coyle pledged that the city would continue vigilant inspections, particularly leading up to this weekend’s Mardi Gras celebrations.
“When an incident like this occurs, we revisit our plans and procedures,” said Coyle. “We’re going to do what we normally do to make sure that the nightclubs are adhering to the laws to ensure the safety of their patrons.”
Additional reporting from KRT wire reports.