Two nightclub tragedies in which 117 people were trampled or burned to death in the span of a week have cities across the nation rewriting old fire and building codes and demanding immediate inspections to head off more disasters.
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Less than a day after a band's pyrotechnics turned a small Rhode Island club into a raging inferno that killed nearly a third of the crowd, the governor of neighboring Massachusetts mobilized a task force to begin immediate, unannounced inspections of every nightclub in the state.
In the country music capital of Nashville, Tenn., officials also began spot checks to confirm that all nightclubs had unlocked exits and that those using fireworks had fire inspectors to supervise their use. And in the District of Columbia, Mayor Anthony Williams told aides to inspect clubs and meet with owners to ensure they meet building codes.
Just days before the Rhode Island blaze, officials in Chicago were discussing requiring clubs to install panic bars, the push bars commonly found on movie theater doors, following a deadly stampede early Monday at the city's E2 nightclub.
A security guard on the E2 dance floor had shot pepper spray into the crowd to break up a fight, sending hundreds of people in a frantic rush for the exit that crushed 21 people to death on a narrow staircase.
Beginning Friday night, Chicago officials also stepped up inspections of nightclubs in response to the Rhode Island fire, although they said the city's strict requirements regarding pyrotechnics ensure that only the largest venues apply for permits.
Tragedies like the stampede and Thursday night's fire at The Station in West Warwick, R.I., often spur quick criticism of security and fire code changes.
In 1995, the state of Maine began regulating indoor pyrotechnics after four people were hospitalized because a ``flash pot'' exploded at Portland, Maine's T-Birds nightclub.
Los Angeles, which has thousands of clubs, hotels and restaurants, has never had a deadly nightclub fire, but it has learned from disasters elsewhere, Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
After a 1942 blaze in Boston killed 492 trapped inside the Cocoanut Grove club, city leaders in Los Angeles passed a law there requiring panic bars on nightclub doors. It now has one of the strictest fire safety codes in the world.
``Every single line in that code is the result of a disaster,'' Humphrey said.
More than 130 Los Angeles inspectors now monitor public venues in a 470-square-mile area. ``I can't think of one that hasn't had a fire violation,'' Humphrey said, though most have been minor: ``A light bulb burned out in an exit sign, or a laundry bag blocking an exit.''
Because of terrorism concerns, inspectors already were focusing on Sunset Boulevard nightclubs in West Hollywood, Calif.
``This is a hot spot that everybody in the world wants to come to ... the stars do hang out in this town,'' explained Los Angeles County fire Capt. Stanley Perkins.
He advised people going to clubs to make sure they find a second exit even before they have their first drink.
``If you feel unsafe in a club, leave,'' Perkins said. ``Just turn around and walk out. Ask for your money back. Too crowded.''
Nightspots in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak, Mich., are now required to notify customers to every exit before any show, by order of the city fire marshal.
Pittsburgh law requires that the city be officially informed before any open flame on stage, even as small as an actor's cigarette. A city fire inspector also has to be backstage, armed with a radio and a fire extinguisher, said city Fire Bureau Chief Peter Micheli.
``If there is a problem, he has the authority to stop the show at a minute's notice,'' the chief said.
Overhead sprinklers -- a safety measure that wasn't required and wasn't present in the Rhode Island club that burned, killing 96 people -- are required as of this year in any New York venue public venue accommodating 100 people or more.
On Saturday, Connecticut lawmakers, following neighboring Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, announced that top police and fire officials in their state would be called to the Capitol this week to review state laws regulating nightclubs and pyrotechnics.
Missouri state Fire Marshal Bill Farr said he hopes the Rhode Island blaze raises awareness of the need for safety regulations. Missouri has no fire code for privately owned buildings, although larger cities such as St. Louis and Kansas City have their own.
``It's always a shame to get anything done in the United States as far as code adoption, it takes large life loss,'' Farr said.
