There are a lot of bad things that happen when fires get out of control, or when places that are full of people are not fireproofed. This is just such the case that happen to the people at the Station Nightclub fire on February 20, 2003. A lot of people wanted to know, could fire retardants and fireproofing have saved the people that were at the club that night, and I think the answer is yes. However, before we get into that, we need to cover what happened on that scary night. This was the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in the United States history. In fact, it killed over 100 people and injured almost 200 more. Ninety six people never made it out of the building, and a hand full of people died later that night at the hospital. The problems all started when the band, Great White, was singing. In their opening song, they chose to use pyrotechnics to give their song more kick. However, what they did not know is that the soundproofing foam that was around the club was not flameproofed. At this point the foam caught fire, and in a few minutes the whole places was up in flames.

The investigators focused mostly on the foam material that was around the stage. They found that the foam was made for packaging and for displaying products, rather than for sound proofing a building. Also, as already noted, the foam was not fireproofed. The witnesses that did make it out of the building said that the sparks that hit the wall (once ignited) set flames spreading out across it as fast as one foot per second. So as you can guess, it did not take long for the whole area to be covered in a fiery death. This brings us back to the question, “would flameproofed walls have stopped all this from happening?” The truth of the matter is that flameproofing would have made things ten times better. Although the flames still may have started, they would not have spread so fast. In fact, they would have more than likely been able to put out the flames before they got out of hand. If they could not get the flames out, people would have had more time to get out, and less people would have died. Either way you look at it, the flameproof walls would have only made things better.

This is why it’s very important to flameproof your buildings, and make sure that they are safe. Your customers and protecting peoples lives should be the first thing on your mind. Because the building was not flameproofed, the owner of the club was sentenced to jail. He was released in 2008 with support from the victims families, but only after he sent out over 100 letters of apology for what happened. He has said in many interviews that it is hard to live with himself after what has happened. It’s sad to think that this whole thing could have never happened had that building been flameproofed. That is why all buildings should be flameproofed before they are open for business. That is the only way to save lives.