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CNN Saturday Morning News
Deadly Blaze In Rhode Island Nightclub
Aired February 22, 2003 - 08:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, and more now on our top story, the nightclub fire in Rhode Island.
CNN's Whitney Casey joins us from Rhode Island with the latest -- Whitney.
WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jonathan, the governor has just given us an update. He said 96 is the death toll and he's expecting it to stay at that barring anything the may happen in local hospitals. He says as of right now, nine have been identified. That's two more than last night. He was hoping that eight would be identified. Overnight in a press conference he gave he was optimistic about eight people being identified. But he said it is a very slow process and it could take a few days, if not weeks, for some people.
That leaves 87 that have yet to be identified, 180 that are in area hospitals and 25 still in critical condition.
Now, the governor has now said that the scene behind me, the scene of The Station, where the fire broke out yesterday, he says it is now no longer a search and recovery scene. It is now just an investigation scene. So these families are now left to sit at the family assistance center and just wait.
And that waiting process hopes to be expedited by a group of federal pathologists that have come here to help out the medical examiner's office. About 25 people are working diligently now around the clock. They say it's a 24 hour process. And they're asking family members to bring things just in case to the family assistance center, things like hair brushes, toothbrushes, dental records, DNA samples. But the governor said earlier today that dental records would be most imperative because they would help expedite this process.
And let's listen to what he said just moments earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. DON CARCIERI, RHODE ISLAND: We need the dental information for each of their loved ones so that we can make certain we've gotten to those dentists and gotten the information that we need so that these teams can go to work. My understanding that that would be the fastest way to identify a number of the bodies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY: And the governor also mentioned right after that that if it does have to go down to DNA samples, that that could take weeks to identify some of the victims here.
Now, in terms of the investigation, it is ongoing. The band continues to say that they had permission to use pyrotechnics here and the people who own the club say that they didn't. So the paramount here is finding out the identities. That is what the governor said that they will be focused on and the investigation is secondary right now -- Jonathan.
KARL: And there'll be plenty of time for that investigation, you can be sure.
Whitney Casey in West Warwick, Rhode Island, thank you very much -- Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: So, how can you keep a night out on the town from becoming a nightmare?
Our Mike Brooks joins us now in Atlanta with some advice on ways to protect yourself at a crowded nightclub or a concert -- Mike, good morning to you.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
We're at the Japor (ph) Nightclub here in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, Georgia. With me is Cathy Stonehouse (ph) from the club.
Cathy, thanks for joining us so early this morning.
CATHY STONEHOUSE: Thanks for coming.
BROOKS: Now, we looked at all the tragedy in West Warwick, Rhode Island, and that club apparently, they did have exits. They did have other things. We look here, we have a high ceiling. There's nothing on the walls here. Here we have an ABC fire extinguisher for common combustibles, flammable liquids, electrical fires. We have an emergency door.
Tell me some other things that Japor has done to make sure that they keep the patrons safe.
STONEHOUSE: Well, certainly in light of the recent events, unfortunate tragedies that we've had in the other nightclubs, we've made our staff very aware of the exits that we have. We've had them keeping the areas open, keeping the flow of people moving all the time, especially when we have other concert promoters coming in that we're not necessarily familiar with. We make sure that their staff, as well, and their security guards are aware of the exits.
BROOKS: Now, we came in this morning, all the lights were off, all the exit lights were on and were easy, it was very easy to pick out all of the exit lights. Here we have just a directional exit light that is not a defined exit, but tells you which way to go for the exits, here on the dance floor, with the stage back behind us. And, again, here another exit with a fire alarm right next to the bar so the bartender can come right out from behind the bar, hit the fire alarm should anything happen. STONEHOUSE: And that was not by mistake.
BROOKS: It was by design?
STONEHOUSE: Yes.
BROOKS: OK. And also, one of the things they said, Heidi, that they did have up there was emergency lights that came on, but it didn't do any good because of the thick, acrid smoke from the tiles. So, you know, one of the ways is to test the lights and it's done on a regular basis so if the lights do go off, they will come on in an emergency situation.
So it looks like this particular club, Heidi, is pretty well up to code and they made sure --
STONEHOUSE: Very well.
BROOKS: ... made sure they were up to code before they opened for business -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And I heard her say very well up to code in the background.
All right, Mike Brooks, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 22, 2003 - 08:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, and more now on our top story, the nightclub fire in Rhode Island.
CNN's Whitney Casey joins us from Rhode Island with the latest -- Whitney.
WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jonathan, the governor has just given us an update. He said 96 is the death toll and he's expecting it to stay at that barring anything the may happen in local hospitals. He says as of right now, nine have been identified. That's two more than last night. He was hoping that eight would be identified. Overnight in a press conference he gave he was optimistic about eight people being identified. But he said it is a very slow process and it could take a few days, if not weeks, for some people.
That leaves 87 that have yet to be identified, 180 that are in area hospitals and 25 still in critical condition.
Now, the governor has now said that the scene behind me, the scene of The Station, where the fire broke out yesterday, he says it is now no longer a search and recovery scene. It is now just an investigation scene. So these families are now left to sit at the family assistance center and just wait.
And that waiting process hopes to be expedited by a group of federal pathologists that have come here to help out the medical examiner's office. About 25 people are working diligently now around the clock. They say it's a 24 hour process. And they're asking family members to bring things just in case to the family assistance center, things like hair brushes, toothbrushes, dental records, DNA samples. But the governor said earlier today that dental records would be most imperative because they would help expedite this process.
And let's listen to what he said just moments earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. DON CARCIERI, RHODE ISLAND: We need the dental information for each of their loved ones so that we can make certain we've gotten to those dentists and gotten the information that we need so that these teams can go to work. My understanding that that would be the fastest way to identify a number of the bodies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY: And the governor also mentioned right after that that if it does have to go down to DNA samples, that that could take weeks to identify some of the victims here.
Now, in terms of the investigation, it is ongoing. The band continues to say that they had permission to use pyrotechnics here and the people who own the club say that they didn't. So the paramount here is finding out the identities. That is what the governor said that they will be focused on and the investigation is secondary right now -- Jonathan.
KARL: And there'll be plenty of time for that investigation, you can be sure.
Whitney Casey in West Warwick, Rhode Island, thank you very much -- Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: So, how can you keep a night out on the town from becoming a nightmare?
Our Mike Brooks joins us now in Atlanta with some advice on ways to protect yourself at a crowded nightclub or a concert -- Mike, good morning to you.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
We're at the Japor (ph) Nightclub here in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, Georgia. With me is Cathy Stonehouse (ph) from the club.
Cathy, thanks for joining us so early this morning.
CATHY STONEHOUSE: Thanks for coming.
BROOKS: Now, we looked at all the tragedy in West Warwick, Rhode Island, and that club apparently, they did have exits. They did have other things. We look here, we have a high ceiling. There's nothing on the walls here. Here we have an ABC fire extinguisher for common combustibles, flammable liquids, electrical fires. We have an emergency door.
Tell me some other things that Japor has done to make sure that they keep the patrons safe.
STONEHOUSE: Well, certainly in light of the recent events, unfortunate tragedies that we've had in the other nightclubs, we've made our staff very aware of the exits that we have. We've had them keeping the areas open, keeping the flow of people moving all the time, especially when we have other concert promoters coming in that we're not necessarily familiar with. We make sure that their staff, as well, and their security guards are aware of the exits.
BROOKS: Now, we came in this morning, all the lights were off, all the exit lights were on and were easy, it was very easy to pick out all of the exit lights. Here we have just a directional exit light that is not a defined exit, but tells you which way to go for the exits, here on the dance floor, with the stage back behind us. And, again, here another exit with a fire alarm right next to the bar so the bartender can come right out from behind the bar, hit the fire alarm should anything happen. STONEHOUSE: And that was not by mistake.
BROOKS: It was by design?
STONEHOUSE: Yes.
BROOKS: OK. And also, one of the things they said, Heidi, that they did have up there was emergency lights that came on, but it didn't do any good because of the thick, acrid smoke from the tiles. So, you know, one of the ways is to test the lights and it's done on a regular basis so if the lights do go off, they will come on in an emergency situation.
So it looks like this particular club, Heidi, is pretty well up to code and they made sure --
STONEHOUSE: Very well.
BROOKS: ... made sure they were up to code before they opened for business -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And I heard her say very well up to code in the background.
All right, Mike Brooks, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
