On Feb. 20, 2003, hundreds of fans of the heavy metal band Great White gathered at a nightclub called The Station in West Warwick. During the show, the band set off pyrotechnics that ignited soundproofing material in the room. The tragedy left 100 people dead, and 200 more injured. John Barylick is an attorney who represented some of the families of those who died. He authored a book called “Killer Show: America’s Deadliest Rock Concert.” Barylick spoke with morning host Luis Hernandez about what happened, and what we’ve learned since then.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
TRANSCRIPT:
Luis Hernandez: Do you remember where you were when you heard about the tragedy, and then what was going through your mind?
John Barylick: I was in Green airport at a gate, ready to board a departing flight. And I was looking at the TV monitor above me. And this news report started to come in about the fire the evening before. And that was my first exposure to it. And then I followed it throughout the day. … I had a fair suspicion that we would be involved because it was the type of work that our firm had historically engaged in. I didn’t appreciate – and I don’t think the authorities appreciated – what the scope of the tragedy would be. The reporting began rather modestly with a small number of known fatalities. And with each hour, the number would grow. And it became more and more apparent that this would be a tragedy, the scope of which Rhode Island really had not seen before.
Hernandez: As it’s all unfolding, what are you thinking, and what do you tell people? How do you explain to people who don’t understand the legal system, why is this playing out like this? Why are people not being held accountable?
Barylick: It was difficult to explain why some people were indicted for criminal offenses, and others simply were not. It required explaining to clients the high bar required of criminal convictions as opposed to the civil justice system. But, you know, several answers were never forthcoming from the Attorney General’s office – specifically, why Jack Russell, the head of that band who had made the decision to use illegal pyrotechnics, was not charged; and why Dennis Larocque, the local and state fire marshal, was not charged for allowing overcrowding in his rating of the building, and more egregiously, allowing over 900 square feet of flammable foam to remain on the walls through three years of inspections.
Hernandez: When you go around the country speaking to fire officials about how this all went down, do you feel confident, though, that we have learned from this, that this could never happen again?
Barylick: I would never say that it couldn’t happen again, because people are fallible, and we as humans have short memories. Witness in other countries in the aftermath even of the Station fire within the next 10 years, in Argentina, in Thailand, and even more recently in Brazil, pyrotechnic-fueled fires inside nightclubs. So worldwide, we have kind of a short memory. But at least locally and in the United States, I believe that substantial steps have been taken to tighten up the state fire codes. We’ve done so in Rhode Island. We’ve tightened up the requirement for sprinkler ring places of public assembly, we’re grandfathering in less buildings. So more and more buildings where people assemble either for entertainment or worship now are sprinklered. And that has to have a positive effect. And I also sense from talking to fire and event planning professionals that after the Station Fire, they are acutely aware of the hazards when profit motive, overcomes concern for safety.
Hernandez: As we come on this 20th anniversary, what do you want people to think about and take away from that memory as we move forward?
Barylick: I think first of all, we should remember the victims and their families and the brave survivors, because it’s really their story. But moving forward, and I see it among people that I speak to not only are the people who are professionally responsible for safety, acutely aware of what can happen when people don’t have the right priorities. But individuals who are concert goers are now taking more personal responsibility. I have more people write to me and say, I will never enter a club the same way again. I always check out the exits, and whether it’d be a fight of fire, or sadly, an active shooter situation, now, when one enters a public venue, you really should check out the exits and share with your friends. The nearest exit and that’s the place we’ll be leaving at the first sign of a problem. More and more people are taking personal responsibility for their own safety in that way.
Click here to learn more about John Barylick and his book, “Killer Show: America’s Deadliest Rock Concert.”
