Area club: Fireworks were surprise

The same band just played in Pinellas Park. Clubs and officials are taking more safety steps.

By JEAN HELLER, LEONORA LAPETER and MARCUS FRANKLIN
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 22, 2003

The rock band whose pyrotechnics triggered the deadly fire Thursday night in a Rhode Island nightclub performed with fireworks two weeks ago in the Tampa Bay area.

Great White played Feb. 7 at the Pinellas Park Expo Center, the group's largest concert on the tour. Without permission, the band used the same type of fountain-style sparklers that sparked the Rhode Island fire, said the show's promoter and a spokesman at the Expo Center.

"We didn't know there would be pyro there, and I'm firmly convinced the owner of the club in Rhode Island didn't know," said Tim Bryant, president of Past 2 Present Promotion and Production of St. Petersburg, which arranged the Pinellas Park date. "The band manager sneaks the stuff on stage, I think, because they're afraid if they say anything ahead of time, they'll be told they can't do it."

Great White's management company contends the tour manager always gets club owners' permission before using fireworks.

Thursday night's Rhode Island fire, which killed more than 90, erupted three days after 21 people were killed and more than 50 others were injured in a stampede at a second-story Chicago nightclub. The mayhem began after a security guard used pepper spray to break up a fight.

Now some Tampa Bay area nightclub owners are taking steps to ensure their patrons are safe. And fire officials, who inspect clubs to make sure they comply with safety codes, say they will be keeping a closer eye on the details of performers' plans.

Fuel, a popular, widely advertised Ybor City nightclub once known as Frankie's Patio, was forced to close temporarily last month after fire officials discovered code violations, Tampa Fire and Rescue Chief Inspector W.D. Ryan said. The club reopened less than three days later after the violations were corrected, Ryan said.

Fuel's manager could not be reached for comment Friday.

"It's something that needs to be monitored regularly," Ryan said of safety codes Friday as he surveyed a fireworks demonstration of flame projectors, gerbes, mines, puff pots and concussion mortars at the St. Pete Times Forum. Organizers of Acquire the Fire, a Christian youth conference this weekend at the forum, use fireworks to attract young people.

The Tampa Fire Department issues 30 to 40 permits to use fireworks a year. At least three people from the Fire Department monitor each show. It's "very rare" that such a permit is given for fireworks shows in nightclubs, where ceilings tend to be lower and crowds more tightly packed, Ryan said.

In St. Petersburg, all commercial buildings are inspected every two years and exits and fire extinguishers are checked along with other safety features, said Lt. Rick Feinberg of St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue.

"We'll find stores have their doors marked," he said, "but they'll stack equipment chairs in front of the exit."

The department recently received a complaint about a downtown restaurant, which Feinberg declined to name, where management was locking a secondary exit with a chain to keep people from leaving without paying their bills. The Fire Department has inspected the restaurant a few times since the tip, and the restaurant's operator no longer locks the door, Feinberg said.

Feinberg encouraged patrons to speak up when they see blocked or locked exits. Ryan, Tampa's fire and rescue chief inspector, said he has gotten several complaints from nightclub patrons since the stampede in Chicago.

Some bay area nightclub owners are taking additional safety steps.

Thomas McNeice, director of operations for Storman's Palace on Ulmerton Road, said the club planned to hand out fliers to patrons Friday night marking the location of each of the nightclub's eight fire exits. The club, which can hold 1,400, draws no more than 1,000 on a big night, he said.

"We'll make up a sign, just a little reminder, and put some up in the restrooms," McNeice said. "We want to make sure our clientele are on the safe side."

In December, a melee broke out at Storman's Place after a fight between two teenage girls spilled into the parking lot and involved hundreds of fighting teens. A deputy and bouncer suffered minor injuries. After the incident, the club hired additional security.

Additional security might not have prevented Thursday's Rhode Island fire, said Shawn Worlow, who has overseen 160 fireworks displays in the last five years as the production manager for Acquire the Fire. But he said the disaster shouldn't have happened.

"Anyone who knows anything about pyrotechnics would know better than to shoot in that small of a venue," Worlow said. "No way they should've been shooting pyro in that room."

The Rhode Island nightclub had a capacity of 300.

Pinellas Park fire Chief Ken Cramer said he will be watching performers more closely. The chief said neither his city nor Pinellas County requires a permit to set off fireworks indoors, although the person handling them must have a license from both the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the state.

The Pinellas Park Expo Center is a remodeled Sam's Club warehouse and has concrete floors, steel I-beam and metal ceilings, sprinklers and exits.

"We are going to be paying special attention to shows here," Cramer said, "and will be monitoring them to find out what the stars are planning to do."

Simple, spectacular, and usually safe

In the theatrical fireworks business, the effects that led to the Rhode Island fire are called gerbs.

Gerbs consist of a powder charge inside a floor-mounted tube or pipe about an inch in diameter.

Great White was using a "gerb fan," a trio of gerbs placed together and pointed in different directions.

Usually, gerb fans are used in arenas and stadiums.

The charge is usually ignited by an electric spark that is triggered by remote control, shooting a tower of flame into the air.

A metal additive in the charge, such as titanium or tungsten, gives the flame a sparkling effect.

When properly operated, the height and duration of the flame produced by any fireworks device can be precisely calibrated.

The sparks themselves aren't very hot -- performers can get showered by them without getting burned -- but they can ignite flammable materials.

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