Page 28 of 43 FirstFirst ... 19262728293037 ... LastLast
Results 1,351 to 1,400 of 2148

Thread: Station Nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island 2

  1. #1351
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    yea!--We've all made it to a page #28!

    Wow. That footage is so clear we can now see a protective plexiglass screen between the three patrons and the soundboard. I was wondering how they kept beer out of the electronics during, say, Kisstory.

    WPRI-TV was a CBS affiliate at the time, so CBS probably got their pick of the footage. Nice to see the courageous Jim Acosta as well.

    That's Brian Loftus talking about people running out on fire. And Donna Miele is Ben Suffoletto's sister. I had a visit with her at the anniversary. We talked a lot about Ben's Halloween displays. As "Billoween," I could relate. (For an idea of what I do, check out "Halloween at Bill's House" on youtube--3:59-2009.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0FovdAd-GM

    By the way, that's 6'-7" Walter Carpenter with the baseball cap near the right speaker and behind/next to the Conant sisters.
    Last edited by billoween; 04-07-2020 at 01:21 PM.

  2. #1352
    Quote Originally Posted by billoween View Post
    Hi all—

    Something to watch in your “spare time.”

    On the Drive—search>Giamei>03-369-PR Mario Giamei on Dateline. There is much of that pristine footage spliced in and Lt. Frank is gonna have a field day.
    Even uses the clearest pre-show I’ve ever seen!

    Something to cheer you up:

    Mario Giamei, survivor and the former bouncer, can be pretty funny sometimes. This was him on Daniel Biechele:

    “All I know is if that roadie was supposed to be some kind of [pyro] technician, then I’m the next president of the United States.”

    —The stage door is a tough puzzle, but I got it 85% figured out. I’m trying to push myself to get it done because I know you guys need a diversion. Which it has been for me, too.
    I suck at searching for stuff on Google Drive. You'd think it would be like searching in a folder within a folder, etc..

  3. #1353
    Quote Originally Posted by Noelle1966 View Post
    I am curious about the police officer in John's video. He talks about the police officer who called in the report. He seemed really slammed up against the wall. It was strange that he got out.
    Yeah, it's particularly strange because he made it out without much issue while Adam Tanzi, who is ahead of him in the hallway, got stuck in the pileup. I'm guessing at that point it was pretty much down to random luck when and how you got swept up into the moving crowd and out the doorway.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lt. Frank Drebin View Post
    I suck at searching for stuff on Google Drive. You'd think it would be like searching in a folder within a folder, etc..
    The Google Drive search only seems to give results for files you've already seen (or at least that's what it did to me when I originally searched for it). You can find that video by directly going to the folder - 1st Disclosure -> Videos -> 03-369-PR Mario Giamei On Dateline -> VIDEO_TS -> VTS_02_1.VOB

  4. #1354
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    1,504
    That was some really clear footage. I wish that John Barylick would make some sort of amends with Brian Butler.
    The reason a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

  5. #1355
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    PART ONE


    Exactly who got out the stage door and in what order--that's what I've spent quarantine time figuring out.

    I had to assume that the witness accounts are mostly accurate. And I relied on the following: Butler footage, Davidson stills, Dion's Butler transcript, Subarctican's Davidson timeline, the NIST report, newspaper accounts, Barylick, and the input from all you here on the Station thread.

    I'm certain that I've made some errors, but hopefully only of the minor variety. There was necessarily some dependence on things like the process of elimination, circumstantial evidence, common sense, and "educated" guesswork.


    COMPLICATING FACTORS

    1.) Scott Vieira - Some of what he says is suspect, for sure. So, too, is what he claims to NOT remember. In Vieira's RISP interview, he says "no idea" - "don't know" - "don't remember" - "don't recall" - "not sure" - and "can't say" a total of 54 times. So all I could do was try and make the most logical inferences and pay attention to what jived with other witness statements.

    2.) Dan Biechele - He left the Station twice, actually. Once to check the tour bus for a fire extinguisher. And then again, late in the game, after shepherding out the last remaining band personnel.

    3.) Water was used twice on the flames, and some witnesses don't clearly differentiate between Dan Biechele's quickie cup of water thrown early on, and Jack Russell's stunt near the end with a bottle of Poland Spring.


    OTHER NOTES

    1.) Arpin and Vieira seem to have been the only ones who denied patrons egress. Still, there did exist several windows of time during which the fire forced their attention elsewhere--making passage for some lucky patrons relatively easy. Or, at least, uncontested.

    2.) I'm convinced that there was such a thing as trying to exit the stage door too early, like when the bouncers were still sticking to their script.
    Donna Cormier told me that she still didn't completely blame Arpin for blocking her family; she understood that from his limited viewpoint it was possible he couldn't get the full picture on how out-of-control the fire had become. Arpin finally left the stage area for good...
    Last edited by billoween; 04-13-2020 at 03:36 PM.

  6. #1356
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    ...on a mission to get the kitchen fire extinguisher. But he could only make it part way back to the stage; he was forced backwards by the oncoming crowd rush and exited via the kitchen exit--still holding the extinguisher.

    Scott Vieira left his post at some early point to go and grab 4 water bottles from an ice chest in the dressing room. By the time he returned, though, the fire had grown so large that he realized he was on a fool's errand, and said he just dropped the bottles on the floor. That's when he says he noticed that the first door (foam-covered and with sign) was wide open: "[I saw] people starting to go out the door, people from the band, people from the second band, people.....working their way out."

    3.) Another factor in play was the sovereignty of the talent. Only after the "high-ranking" band members had escaped was the monitoring of the stage door over. The worst-case scenario for the bouncers seemed to be the one where the high-priority band members get caught behind a doorway plugged solid with the "common customers."

    4.) On the Butler footage, the stage and back wall appear totally ablaze earlier than they were. Evidently, the light sensor in Butler's camera got thrown off by the bright flames to where it kind of washes out. The Davidson stills show what's probably a more realistic view of both the fire's brilliance and its spread.

    5.) Davidson's stills show great detail. But it should be remembered that without his flash, the scene was way darker in reality.

    6.) The only exit-er from the stage door to be seriously injured was Walter Castle. Not only did he sustain 3rd degree respiratory burns; he was in therapy for PTSD for many years after.

    7.) A figure is seen heading out very late in the Florio photo (Adam Florio 002.jpg). Can't say exactly who that is.

    ...to be continued...very soon...

  7. #1357
    Have yet to be successful in finding that stuff on the Drive, but in trying to not want to be the armchair quarterback, it seems that early-on in the escape, the situation didn't seem dire. Some patrons were even worried about breaking windows and having to pay for the damages later. I can imagine those just following orders in a "non-dire" situation and being denied the band-only exit. You can even hear someone (Ken Mariorenzi?) on the Butler tape saying that "we'll all get out; don't worry". Scott Vieira's witness statement has that Hillary Clinton sound to it where he "doesn't recall, doesn't remember...etc", even though he recognizes guilt at least in some aspects.
    Last edited by Lt. Frank Drebin; 04-13-2020 at 08:09 PM.

  8. #1358
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    PART TWO


    Here we get to the most likely order of departure through the stage door(s). People didn't all leave in an orderly little line. Some couples and clusters of people left almost in the same seconds. However, if I was forced to pick an "order," it would go something like this:

    1.) Kevin Pulley and Robin Tanzi

    Pulley grabbed Tanzi at the first sight of orange flame, and they just scrammed from their position at the west end of the atrium--close to where Davidson and his camera were positioned. Pulley just went for it, and fast, and he gives a precise description of opening that tricky first door. He credibly cites its flaws and complains about it.
    Mario Giamei talks about Pulley and Tanzi, but not by name. He says that the very first people to leave were a couple that suddenly walked right by him and recalls hearing the guy say, "We're out of here!" Giamei adds, "...when he opened up that door--frankly, I think that's when the fire really spread."

    2.) the Conant sisters

    Scott Vieira opened the doors for these super fans of GW. It was almost like he treated them as being "with the band." Maybe it helped that he'd seen the sisters hanging out with Mark Kendall and the rest of GW earlier, after the late afternoon sound check. Or maybe he just wanted a couple of young gals to be impressed by his authority.

    3.) Dan Biechele (first exit)

    After throwing a cup of water (or soda) at the early flames--then getting a close-up look at the fire with a flashlight--Biechele seemed aware that his only hope was a fire extinguisher. Following a hasty glance in the dressing room, he bolted out the door to search the bus. (He kept a bus key on a cord around his neck.) He will return soon; empty-handed, unfortunately.

    4.) Al Prudhomme

    Fathead's drummer finally left the stage scene to find his wife, Charlene, who he knew to be near the front doors. He took a nasty slip on the ice and then cut between the bus and the atrium windows to reach the front and Charlene.


    ...to be continued very soon.

  9. #1359
    Great analysis so far, Billoween, can't wait to read the rest!

    I'm particularly curious about the timing of the people getting blocked by the bouncers, and the timing of when the final people left through that door, will be interesting to see...

  10. #1360
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    5.) Eric Powers

    The gold-vested GW drummer first had to escape his burning alcove. Then he became the earliest band member to get out, leaving, he says, through an opened door(s) pathway.

    6.) Shawn Bannister and Jeanette Garcia

    They left right behind Powers ("the drummer") as flames climbed the back wall.

    7.) Mike Chareste and Robert Rocha

    They followed others out "at a walking pace." Safely outside, they said that in 30 seconds time there were flames shooting out the stage door. Rocha is possibly the man in the baseball cap at left in the Davidson photo (Davidson 032.jpg).

    8.) Laura Greene

    Came to the show alone and stood in the west atrium.

    9.) Dave Filice

    GW's bassist, like Powers, says he left through opened doors with his unplugged guitar strapped to him.

    10.) the Cormiers (family of four)

    They assembled to leave after JR splashed his bottled water on the fire. Once Dave Gibbs and Kevin Dunn (D) got turned back from exiting, the Cormiers just pushed past bouncer John Arpin. Brenda Cormier says the alarm went off as she hit the final door.

    11.) John Lynch

    Left at a fast walk.

    12.) Mark Kendall

    He jumped off the stage with his guitar and circled around to what were open doors.

    13.) Jack Russell

    Departed right behind Kendall.

    14.) Johnny Reagle

    He saw Kendall exit--then JR, who he followed. He's easy to spot, later, on BB, by the way. He's wearing a bright white shirt (Davidson 009.jpg) and is standing with the zombie-fied Bill Long when Butler first rounds the corner of the club.

    15.) Daniel Davidson

    He had his hand on Reagle's shoulder during what was a slight delay at the doorway. The dark smoke didn't help and later he says that the outside steps may have slowed people down.

    16.) Scott Vieira

    He probably left not long after the alarm sounded. I found him to be the most difficult to pinpoint time-wise.


    ...to be continued today (and finished)...

  11. #1361
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    17.) Dan Biechele (his second exit)

    He says that when he re-entered the club, there was fire covering the entire back wall and that the remaining band members were "trying to help put it out." At this point, he was just making sure that the band was all out safely. He was pushed out the doorway, finally, by Mario Gaimei. His next few minutes were spent looking for one person: Ty Longley.

    18.) Mario Gaimei

    After failing to reach the extinguisher at the ticket podium (Steve Mancini (D) may have already found it anyway), the heat and the crowd made Gaimei turn back. He said he ran back through a dance area that was so empty by now, he could have done cartwheels through it. He saw the "black rain" falling and had to dodge other materials dropping from the ceiling. When he made it to the stage door he had to push Dan Biechele out before he could get out himself.

    19.) Walter Castle

    He said that the inward-opening door was closed; that he couldn't breath with the intense heat; and that it was so smokey that he couldn't see more than an inch in front of his face. He believes the only reason he survived was that he was able to rip that first door off its hinges.

    Castle came out screaming, with his clothes smoldering and his shirt on fire. Most likely, he was the person Johnny Reagle helped to a snowbank, who sizzled when he first sat down on it.


    FINAL NOTES


    --I count 24 people total. (Giving Biechele credit for just one escape.)

    --I was going to attempt a timeline, but settled instead on just figuring the order of exit. Actual times seemed too vague for half of the exit-ers, and too much like pure guesswork. What I'd really like to do, in time, is talk to some of these survivors about it myself.

    —I should have said this right off the bat: there was about 6 inches between the 2 stage doors. Helps picture it.

    --I hope I haven't been showboating, using so much space for this. Eventually I'll share some of what else I came across while I was pursuing this.
    Last edited by billoween; 04-15-2020 at 09:25 PM. Reason: Forgot, duh!

  12. #1362
    Great stuff, Billoween! A few thoughts from me...

    • I had always assumed that the final exits from the stage door were probably made within a few seconds of Butler moving into the exit hallway, given how much smoke was already coming down at that point, but it seems I was wrong. It looks like Mario Gaimei and especially Walter Castle left a while after that, and even some of the band members may have left later than I had originally assumed (more on that below).

    Based on this timing as well, it seems like Jeff Rader probably still had time to make it out the stage exit after that infamous photo was taken.

    • I wonder about the timing of Dan Biechele's two exits. The time from Davidson photo 032, where he can be seen walking off the stage, until Photo 039 (the last of the bunch) where Dave Filice and Mark Kendall are stepping off stage is only about 8 seconds apart, nowhere near enough time for Biechele to run outside, get to the tour bus, search for a fire extinguisher, and return into the building.

    Did the band members maybe stick around after stepping offstage but before exiting? Is that when they were "trying to help put it out"? Or is Biechele misremembering things? I can clearly see Dave/Mark jump off the stage, but then Ken Mariorenzi's head comes into frame and blocks the view of the exit corridor for a few seconds so I can't tell whether they stuck around or headed out the door. (I can definitely see that the door is open and people are leaving through it, though)

    • I've always thought the last person we see jumping off stage in the Butler video (just before he rounds the corner into the hallway) was Jack Russell - it sure looks a lot like him, bandana and all. Any thoughts on that, and who the person jumping off just before him might be (that individual also seems to bolt towards the stage exit)? This could also support my previous point that band members might have been standing around before leaving the building, as Dave and Mark left the stage a good 12 seconds before Jack (if that's indeed him at the end) and he supposedly departed right behind Mark Kendall.

    • On the video you can see Scott V move to the middle of the exit corridor, just before Dave/Mark hop off stage, it seems likely to me that Gina Russo and Rob Feeney being blocked from the entrance occurred around this time, as the band members were heading off the stage. You also got the timing of the Cormier family in your analysis, so it seems we have a pretty good idea now of when most people were blocked.

    • Walter Castle said he was blocked by a bouncer while trying to escape, any thoughts on who that might be? Seems awfully late for anyone to be hanging around there trying to stop people from leaving.
    Last edited by subarctican; 04-16-2020 at 03:55 PM. Reason: added more points

  13. #1363
    So I was looking through the old thread and came across a version of the video on youtube with terrible video quality but with the much better Butler audio that we saw in the Associated Press video I posted on the previous page. That version can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx2298DLxPg

    Now obviously that version has a lot of hissing in it and is only on the right channel, so I took the liberty to apply a noise reduction filter, center it so it plays in both channels, and synced it up to the Google Drive video. The audio has become a little more watery as a result but in my opinion is still nicer than with the loud hissing. Here is the result for you guys to download (and I do recommend downloading it rather than streaming, as streaming will give you a lower quality version): https://www.dropbox.com/s/2a6vganre1...Audio.mp4?dl=0

  14. #1364
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    Subarctican - Well thanks so much for your encouragement, and your detailed input into this puzzle.


    Biechele said he was outside for 15 seconds. I have him leaving about 3 seconds after we see him in 032.jpg, and returning a good 20 seconds later. His statement makes it sound like he just checked for an extinguisher in two specific spots--not like he was sort of looking around, and then looking around some more. We did see how fast he was capable of moving on Butler, in the scene with the hose.

    See, to me, in 039.jpg, Filice and Russell don't look to be stepping off the stage quite yet.

    Here's what I see in that photo (left to right): big right speaker - neck of Kendall's guitar - Dave Filice looking around, getting ready to bolt out - Jack Russell still in the middle of his water stunt - Tracy King leaving the stage - Scott Vieira - Donna Cormier (she ID-ed her earring here) - and then a possible Bruce Cormier. (The Cormier's could be bustling past an out-of-sight John Arpin at this very moment.)


    Yes, I believe you are so right that band members lingered around the "hallway" and door. Were they hoping that Ty Longley would suddenly appear? And I think Biechele may have shown up from outside just in time to holler at them all to get the hell out.

    Yes, I think Castle was blocked by a bouncer. Or, at least, heard a bouncer block some in front of him. Sounds like he may have stalled after that rejection until, finally, the conditions forced him to basically charge the exit. It's entirely possible too, that he got lost or turned around some in the smoke; it was only his second time in the club. He told investigators he didn't even know there was a door there for sure until the bouncer said, "Band door only." So the bad news was that he was being denied exit; but the good news was that it confirmed to him that there really was an exit there.
    Last edited by billoween; 04-17-2020 at 04:25 PM.

  15. #1365
    That makes a lot of sense if Biechele only left for 20 seconds, lines up pretty well with the timeline in that case. All-in-all, very interesting to see all these details come together.

  16. #1366
    Hello, random guests viewing this thread!

    I see there are currently 34 of you online as I'm typing this, and there have consistently been many of you over the past few days everytime I've checked this thread. I don't know where all this attention has come from but we'd love to have you join us! Feel free to sign up and chime in on the discussions

  17. #1367
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    15
    In subarctican’s video, as a YouTube comment pointed out, the “just like garden man” actually said “just like Chicago” likely referring to the stampede that happened 4 days before the tragedy in E2.

  18. #1368
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    Lt. Frank - sorry you’ve had to wrestle with the G Drive so much. I get a search line at the top and it works pretty well most of the time. I’ve even put in key words; say, “Poland Spring” or “pool tables,” and been shown accurate results though, admittedly, not always 100% of the available references.

    Ideally, and over time, it’s well worth reading the whole works on Drive and taking your own notes. Does take time, but may reward you with stuff you didn’t even know existed. It’s the only place, for instance, that’s going to tell you that Ty Longley’s last meal was a Healthy Choice Chicken Dinner.
    Last edited by billoween; 04-20-2020 at 01:04 PM.

  19. #1369
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    San Diego CA
    Posts
    7,438
    Hearing the cleaned-up audio is haunting.

  20. #1370
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    The Table


    Charlene Prudhomme, the Station regular and local hairdresser who was married to Fathead's drummer, Al Prudhomme, told the Grand Jury and RISP that she'd tried to hold open the inner-hallway door so that patrons could leave the building more easily.

    "...[then] someone came with a small table into the hallway and he said, here, I'll hold it with this, go. But the table scared me, because people were already moving the table and it was hitting me in the back of the legs and I knew the table [idea] was just bad."

    "[This guy] looked directly at me and shoved the table against the door...as if to hold it open and he said go, just go. This will hold it...I was mad that he brought it cause there wasn't room for a table in the hallway."

    "...immediately I could see the table moving and I was trying to decide whether or not to let go of the door but the table started to move into the crowd and then get lifted up a little bit so when I left the hallway I keep looking behind me cause I was afraid it was going to get thrown and knock me out..."


    Brian Butler: "When I came through [the hallway] I noticed a table...sticking into the doorway probably 6 to 8 inches. So as I'm carrying the camera, going out with my shoulder first I grabbed the corner of the table with my [free] hand...basically turned it and pulled it right out the door with me."


    "Fucking get your table!"--says an unknown woman in the Brian Butler footage, as Butler leaves the doorway at about 1:29.


    Scott Vieira: (after leaving via the stage door and cutting around the bus to the front doors) "...and then the table that was in the mud room area--there's like a little table that they had for flyers--[it got] thrown out of the building and I got hit in the leg with it."


    Karma? Lol...
    Last edited by billoween; 04-20-2020 at 01:06 PM.

  21. #1371
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    15
    Quote Originally Posted by pkstracy View Post
    Hearing the cleaned-up audio is haunting.
    I don't know if it's just me but I'm desensitized enough that I can see the video but sometimes certain moments in it just make me feel like breaking down and crying. Like, I can watch it for a certain amount of time before it just becomes too much.

    No matter how many times I watch the video, I just can't get over those horrible screams around the 5:30 mark. The man yelling "I'm burning up!" (at 5:26) is really heart-breaking and God that woman's shrill "Help me!" at 5:33, seriously,
    I can't wrap my head around the agony they must've been in but you can hear it in their voices. Those poor people

    On a side note you can see someone try to use a fire extinguisher at 5:29 and about 1-2 seconds later you can actually see someone going back up the stairs ahead. I know this is morbid, but I wonder what it would've been like if butler stayed in the front the whole time as the smoke turned to flames. I can't imagine what the people in the front would've seen as the flames got to the door, especially the people still trying to pull people out at the door in those moments.

  22. #1372
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    San Diego CA
    Posts
    7,438
    pcwhiz I agree I can watch it and not be bothered other times I am like you, the screams are horrible.

  23. #1373
    Quote Originally Posted by billoween View Post
    5.) Eric Powers


    7.) Mike Chareste and Robert Rocha

    They followed others out "at a walking pace." Safely outside, they said that in 30 seconds time there were flames shooting out the stage door. Rocha is possibly the man in the baseball cap at left in the Davidson photo (Davidson 032.jpg).



    ...to be continued today (and finished)...
    Billoween - love your work! I've never jammed with Mike Portnoy; only visited his house with my kids (Trick-or-treating and selling Girl Scout cookies). But if you know Dream Theater, bassist John Myung also lives 5 minutes away. His son goes to school with my daughter. Got to chat with him a couple times at school functions. Still trying to figure out a way to get a pic with him. He's a bit of a recluse.

    Regarding Robert Rocha, if this is the person you're talking about Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Rocha5.jpg 
Views:	269 
Size:	68.0 KB 
ID:	54990, Here is survivor Robert Rocha, circa 2011:Click image for larger version. 

Name:	RRocha2.jpg 
Views:	114 
Size:	17.9 KB 
ID:	54991 This is my best effort at getting a side profile, which is from an April 2020 video:Name:  RRocha3.png
Views: 1783
Size:  13.8 KB Also be aware that this side profile pic is actually of his left, but for comparative purposes, I flipped the image. Bob Rocha works for a whaling museum in MA and there are several videos on YouTube featuring him, if you'd like to see him in action.

    Matt Pickett recording -- I personally don't believe that that his gaps we're hearing. 1) The sound is totally different from when he says "Joe! Take A picture!", and 2) it sounds more like a woman. So either his mic was pushed more up to his face when those gasps were recorded, or he had fallen on top of someone or someone fell on top of him that would put another person's mouth closer to his mic.

  24. #1374
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    Lt. Frank - Thanks for the shots of Robert Rocha. Cool move, flipping the profile shot. Still can't tell if it's him in the Davidson shot. He has the same sort of squinty-smile eyes, but...inconclusive. The other candidate for the guy in the baseball cap would be Walter Castle, but I don't know....


    I see a couple of spots in the BB transcript that could use revision now:


    Original:
    1:19 [BB passes through double doors]
    1:19 [thick smoke from main room shoots across ceiling and begins to lower into passageway]
    1:19 [female screams, first sign of panic]
    1:26 [1 minute caption on screen]

    Proposed:
    1:19 [BB passes through mid-hallway door]
    1:19 [thick smoke from main room shoots across ceiling and begins to lower into passageway]
    1:19 [female screams, first sign of panic]
    1:26 [female] Fucking get your table!
    1:26 [1 minute caption on screen]



    Original:
    4:45 [BB?] Hey, hey get this bus outta here so we can get the fire department in here. Get this bus outta here.
    4:48 [BL] Ughh...
    4:50 [DB?] I'm climbin' in here. I'm trying to!

    Proposed:
    4:45 [BB] Hey, hey get this bus outta here so we can get the fire department in here. Get this bus outta here!
    4:48 [BL] Ughh...
    4:50 [Johnny Reagle] I'm climbin' in here. I'm trying to!


    Why:
    Butler said, "I used to be a bus driver in Boston. I recognize that guy as the bus driver and I asked him to get the bus out of here, to get it out of the way of the building so they could get the fire trucks in there." He said he assumed Reagle WAS the driver, "because of his dress and because of his location and honestly because of his size." Reagle IS portly, he's in a white shirt, and he can be seen next to the burned Bill Long (whom he may be comforting) on BB. Suddenly there's even a micro-second glimpse of the opened bus door.

    Reagle was interviewed by an ATF agent who wrote: "Reagle realized the tour bus was in the way of the fire engines so he decided to move it but couldn't get it started."


    What says you, Dion?--creator and keeper of the BB transcript.
    Last edited by billoween; 04-23-2020 at 03:33 PM.

  25. #1375
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Sherman, TX
    Posts
    235
    Yes Bill, I agree that the transcript needs to be updated on the Google Drive. I'm working on something else for the Drive too, I'll keep you all posted.

    However now that we have the excellent sync with the new audio thanks to subarctican, I'm almost thinking there need to be two transcripts! The voices that you hear are so different between them. I'll put some thought into this, and also I'll work on the "second" transcript. An early find: At 4:19 (original transcript time) it sounds a lot more like the guy says "Kerrie! Kerrie!" which backs up our earlier hypothesis that the woman in the white blouse and purse strap across her shoulder is Kerrie Amato.

    P.S. Frank, if you're having trouble with the Google Drive, have you tried syncing it to your hard drive? You need a lot of space of course, about 200 GB, but once it's synced it appears as folders on your own hard drive. You may find it easier to search for files that way.
    Last edited by dionyzus; 04-24-2020 at 08:54 AM.

  26. #1376
    Quote Originally Posted by billoween View Post
    "Wow! That's not good."


    We know these were Jack Russell's last words from the stage, thanks to hearing them on Butler's video and on Pickett's now partially-released audio tape.

    But say there'd been no Butler or and no Pickett recording the show that night. Then, all we'd have had to go on would have been the memories of the survivors. But check out how much those varied:

    Rob Riffe--"...pretty sure I heard Jack Russell, the lead singer, say either 'Thank you' or 'Good night.' "

    Jeff Ward--" 'Can you fucking believe this?' "

    John Gibbs--" '...Oh, no, it's not good.' "

    Richard Wiggs--" 'Something ain't right!' "

    Brianna Quarry--" 'Oh, shit, that wasn't supposed to happen.' "

    Michael Ricardi--" 'Oh man--that isn't good.' "

    Sam Miller--" 'That's fucked up!' "

    Mike Vargas--" 'Hey...that can't be good!' "

    Al Cambio--"The guitar player [Mark Kendall] to the right of the lead singer said, 'This isn't supposed to fucking happen!' "
    where can said audio be found I have wanted to hear it but thought it would never be released

  27. #1377
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Sherman, TX
    Posts
    235
    Quote Originally Posted by bustakita View Post
    where can said audio be found I have wanted to hear it but thought it would never be released
    RodentLady found it on YouTube back in December. It's in a YouTube posting of a John Barylick presentation. In it, he plays the first 2 minutes of the Butler video synced to the Matthew Pickett audio. He stops the recording when you hear someone gasping for air near the microphone, possibly Matthew.

    Here is the link, the audio/video we are talking about starts about 15 minutes in.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUndJG44Moc

  28. #1378
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    1,504
    I think John Barylick is a fascinating author, but I really do wish that he would give credit to Brian Butler for breaking that window.
    The reason a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

  29. #1379
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    MORE MEMORABLE QUOTES


    --"My own mother would not have known that this person in the ambulance was her daughter." -- Survivor Gina Russo on her post-fire appearance.

    --"It was just a nightmare beyond description." -- Father Robert Marciano, Chaplain to the West Warwick FD and a first-responder who avoided driving by the Station site for ten years.

    --"It was like an oven filled with people. I felt like I was being baked." -- Survivor Michelle Spence, who barely remembers crawling toward an atrium window.

    --"Most people don't really like to talk about the fire. I try to talk about it because I think it helps. But only those who were there know what it smelled like. What the heat felt like. That feeling that you are going to die. So you don't talk about it much. -- Survivor Melissa "Missy" Minor.

    --"I was trying to digest the magnitude of what was happening. I was in awe of what was happening. I felt overwhelmed...I, quite frankly, didn't want to stay any longer than I had to." -- Police detective George Winman, a 15-year veteran of the West Warwick PD.

    --"[The ambulance driver] took a look at Linda [Fisher] and said, 'Oh my God!...worst case of burns I ever saw in my life,' until he looked...ten feet to his left. There was one that was worse than that. Then he looked twenty feet to his right and there was somebody worse than that.' " -- Paul Vanner, The Station's soundman and stage coordinator.

    --"One half of my band died in 90 seconds." -- Al Prudhomme on the loss of Fathead members Steve Mancini and his cousin Keith Mancini.

    --"Everything just went silent for a second...I had dead people on me. There was a guy whose head was on fire. That was it for me." -- Survivor Stefanie Simpson.

    --"...I'm grateful to be alive. I have 3 beautiful children, and that's a night that I'll never forget, and I'll have the scars to remind me all the time." -- Stefanie Simpson, from her bed at RI Hospital, 3 days after the fire. She would eventually try killing herself--on two separate occassions--with a combination of pills and liquor.

    --"There were days I didn't think I would survive helping her survive." -- the mother of Stefanie Simpson.

    --"I went into my cave and didn't come out for a while. Totally a mess for the first 2 years...basically a hermit, trying to get a handle on it so I could move on." -- Survivor Tim Russano.

    --"I can barely function. I'm a mess. I'm looking at the debris like I'm looking for some kind of answer. I hope I don't have to live through something like this ever again." -- Survivor Jon Schmidt.

    --"The first time I went to counseling, I made the therapist cry. I figured I was on my own at that point." -- Survivor Lisa Delsesto.

    --"You don't want to know what I saw." -- Survivor John "Jack" Rezendes.

    --"I watched a fireman pull off someone's hand; it came off in his hands." -- Jody King, brother of bouncer Tracy King (D).

    --"I tried going to the Cowesett Inn...but I was like ill...very very sick cause I just saw things that I didn't ever want to see in my life and I wish no one would ever see in their life." -- Surviving bartender Jennifer Choquette.

    --"It had been a good tour up to that point." -- Great White's bass-player, Dave Filice.

    --"I knew [the flames] were not part of the show, but I assumed that someone would come up and put it out, the band would make a joke about it, and life would go on." -- Survivor Brian Wilk.

    --"...the sides of the stage burst into flames and we thought it was part of the show so we stayed, and then the flames moved up...and the ceiling started to melt off and we realized it wasn't part of the show." -- Survivor Brianna Quarry.

    --"It's a wild show, huh?" -- Survivor Kevin Blom to his brother Steven Blom (D) as the pyro died down but twin flames remained.

    --"Even after two days of showers, the smoke smell was still on me." -- Survivor Michael Carr.

    --"Cars with bloody handprints being taken out on flatbeds." -- what Station regular Lori St. Jean remembers from the morning after the fire. She'd given her tickets away, last-minute.

  30. #1380
    Awesome info, Billoween. Loved reading these quotes.I agree with you on trying to ID the guy in the ball cap making his way toward the band-only exit - I wasn't convinced it was Bob Rocha. The nostrils looked different, so I investigated it possibly being Walter Castle. After all, Walter Castle was wearing a dark ball cap with some kind of emblem in the front center, as can be seen in the pre-fire video. I found a video of the fire's 10-year anniversary where Walter Castle recounted his escape. Here's a side profile of him from that vid, which I also flipped for comparitive purposes. What do you think now? Click image for larger version. 

Name:	castle.png 
Views:	108 
Size:	182.2 KB 
ID:	54993Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Rocha5.jpg 
Views:	103 
Size:	68.0 KB 
ID:	54994

  31. #1381
    I'm pretty sure it's too early in the event for it to be Walter Castle, he was the last one out the door and there was still a good amount of time before he left when that picture was taken.

    My guess is that it's the guy who was behind the Conant sisters (who Billoween identified as Walter Carpenter further up this page) - in the video he appears to move around from the stage to the speaker column to the exit pathway right behind the Conant sisters, and you can see one of the sisters in her blue jacket a few feet feet ahead of him in that photo, so the timing seems right.

  32. #1382
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    Lt. Frank-I really like it!
    (And happy you liked quotes.)

    Subarctic—Oh, I slipped when I used “Carpenter” instead of Castle.

    But here’s the deal with Castle: I think he got shy after being rejected and hung back briefly but watching, and then things just got out of control fast. He talks about pushing a bouncer which was only Scott V. at this point. But maybe it was some defensive shove on his way out in the high heat. ??

  33. #1383
    subarctican - Yes, the same guy that was behind the Conant sisters doing some kind of hand gesture where it looks like he has six fingers. That's Walter Castle.

    billoween - In that 10-year anniversary video, Walter Castle talks about going out the exit and having to throw a bouncer who ended-up possibly dying.
    Unless, in his mind due to PTSD, he thinks he aided in a bouncer's death because he shoved him in such a dire moment..
    Last edited by Lt. Frank Drebin; 04-29-2020 at 08:08 AM.

  34. #1384
    Ah, I see! In that case I agree that that's Walter Castle in the photo. Very interesting, I never realized he got so close to the exit so early, I do wonder why he was delayed. I think Billoween's assessment about that is probably accurate.

    As for shoving the bouncer, I've always wondered about that, mainly because he was the last person out and it sounds like the conditions were really bad at that point and it seems strange that a bouncer would still be hanging around blocking people. Maybe the exit through the door took place a while after shoving the bouncer aside, rather than immediately after? If so it's possible he shoved Scott V aside and, through mixed-up information, mistakenly believed he had shoved aside one of the other bouncers who died.

  35. #1385
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    Lt. Frank - Could you tell me which 10-year anniversary video contains the clip with Walter Castle's comments? There are a ton of "10-years later" videos.

    Dion - You the man!

    Subarctican - Yeah, I think we're pretty much on the same page with Vieira and Castle.
    Castle's escape sure doesn't sound like it happened in an easy, straight line.

    He does say, in one witness statement, that "people on the side of him" slowed him from exiting, and he couldn't see much as the smoke got thicker. And that it was only his second time in The Station; he didn't even know there was a stage door exit there, initially.

    Scott Vieira never mentions it, if there was a scuffle at the stage door. But it would have had to have been him who Castle tangled with--Arpin was headed to the kitchen exit at the time.


    The song that always gets played by survivors who gather at the Memorial at 11:07 on anniversary nights is "My Sacrifice" by Creed. Give it a listen sometime. Here are the lyrics:


    MY SACRIFICE

    Hello My Friend We Meet Again
    It's Been A While Where Should We Begin...Feels Like Forever
    Within My Heart Are Memories
    Of Perfect Love That You Gave To Me
    I Remember

    When You Are With Me
    I'm Free...I'm Careless...I Believe
    Above All The Others We'll Fly
    This Bring Tears To My Eyes
    My Sacrifice

    We've Seen Our Share Of Ups And Downs
    Oh How Quickly Life Can Turn Around In An Instant
    It Feels Good To Reunite
    Within Yourself And Within Your Mind
    Let's Find Peace There

    When You Are With Me
    I'm Free...I'm Careless...I Believe
    Above All The Others We'll Fly
    This Brings Tears To My Eyes
    My Sacrifice

    I Just Want To Say Hello Again

  36. #1386
    Try this: http://www.necn.com/news/local/_necn...n_necn/165542/

    If that doesn't work, do a Google search for 'Walter Castle the station nightclub fire'. What I'm confused about is this video is from 2014, not 2013, like you'd expect.

  37. #1387
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    Got it......thanks Frank.

  38. #1388
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    City of Angels
    Posts
    198
    Ooh, very interesting interview with Walter Castle, Frank! Thanks for sharing. Perhaps the bouncer he 'threw who later ended up dying' was Tracy King.

  39. #1389
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    RodentLady - I like that you’re considering all the possibilities in regard to Walter Castle’s account of tussling with a bouncer. But I don’t really believe he ended up killing any bouncer, never mind Tracy King.

    Castle describes a bouncer who was wearing a black t-shirt with “The Station” on it. King was wearing a plain, no logo t-shirt with a vest over it.

    Many people who survived by way of the main bar windows described being picked up, or even tossed out, by someone very strong. And Jody King says he’s frequently been told by survivors that they know they got saved by his brother.

    Rick Sanetti was pulling people from bar windows on the left side of the nightclub. He was hoping his niece, Bridget, would be one of them.
    He described a big man who was badly burned and wedged in a window, hung up on the sill. Shamus Horan then helped Sanetti haul him out by the armpits, and they dragged him clear of the building.

    Rick Sanetti: “Tracy was helping many people. I was the last to see him alive and he died in my arms, a true hero.”

  40. #1390
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    1,504
    I don't know how Walter Castle or anyone else could actually push Tracy King. He was huge. Where is the statement from Rick Sanetti about Tracy? It would be interesting to read.
    The reason a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

  41. #1391
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    Noelle - I used witness statements and/ or Grand Jury testimony by Jody King, Shamus Horan, Walter Castle, and Rick Sanetti. Plus a comment left by Sanetti after a youtube video. Sorry I can’t pinpoint which video it followed, but it was before I started keeping notes.

  42. 05-10-2020, 03:05 PM

  43. #1392
    And didn't survivor Jennifer Stowers die a short time after the fire due to medication abuse?

  44. #1393
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    City of Angels
    Posts
    198
    Looks like Zach isn't dead. His name and birthdate were added to the family gravestone for when he eventually dies in the distant future. That's common with spouses of a decedent. Maybe sons and daughters sometimes do it, too.

    I found this pic of his name on the grave on Linda's page:
    https://images.findagrave.com/photos...1404692050.jpg

    https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...-s_-suffoletto

    The FindAGrave page about Zach seems to have been made in 2014:

    "Created by: Mike Phillips
    Added: 6 Jul 2014
    Find a Grave Memorial 132425161"

    The first name on the grave, Ben senior born in 1922, died in Feb of 2014. The photo was added in July. His year of death was probably chiseled in a short time later. Barry born in 1947 hasn't died, either.

    Gosh, I wish that a resource like the Social Security Death Index master file was still adding data. The last death of someone I knew in real life who had her details appear there was from late 2013.

  45. #1394
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    —Two Station Fire-Related Deaths—

    (Didn’t want these individuals to slip away unmentioned.)


    1.) Captain Ronald Coutu - Detective

    He died suddenly at home at age 58 on 7-29-17. Coutu was a 23 year veteran of the West Warwick PD. He was made the Special Lead Investigator for the RIAG task force assigned to The Station Fire inquiry..

    His calming, down-to-earth voice can be heard on various police calls from the night of the fire (example: 364936.wav) and in the taped phone interview he conducted with survivor Lee Karvonen. (On Drive)


    2.). Francis E. McGovern - Duke University law professor

    He died after a fall at his home in California on 2-14-20; age 75. McGovern designed a system to fairly distribute $176 million in settlement funds to 310 people affected by the fire.
    Last edited by billoween; 05-12-2020 at 11:28 AM.

  46. 05-12-2020, 11:21 AM
    Reason
    Accidentally repeated

  47. #1395
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    RodentLady-so happy to know Zachary Suffoletto is still around. Whew...and thanks for following through on that.

  48. #1396
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    City of Angels
    Posts
    198
    Thanks for bringing it to our attention! I had no idea FindAGrave made living people seem dead by calling their date of death "unknown." That's awfully close to lying.
    That word was what made me investigate. Sure, an exact DATE can be impossible to know. But not even having a presumed YEAR for a modern death? Very strange.

  49. #1397
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    1,504
    What a sad ending for the Suffalettos. Mr. Suffalaletto was found dead at The Station and Mrs. Suffaletto died one week later. I remember her being the subject of "Grace."
    The reason a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

  50. #1398
    please forgive me in advance but I've been on both threads for years and I have one question. did we ever id the brunette and blonde ladies with the jovial smiling guy sitting at the bar. the blonde throws up a piece sign and dances a little dance. this is in the pre-fire video

  51. 05-14-2020, 09:56 AM
    Reason
    please forgive me in advance but I've been on both threads for years and I have one question. did we ever id the brunette and

  52. #1399
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    Lt. Frank - Jennifer Stowers, the fourth grade teacher from Massachusetts, died of an overdose of Zoloft on 5-21-03. She'd been prescribed the anti-depressant for the trauma of the fire and for losing friends (Judith Manzo and Lisa Kelly).

    Nobody seems to know if her death was accidental or intentional. In the Butler video, I believe she's the blonde who leaves the front close behind Jay Gates.

    She died just six weeks before her wedding. Her fiancee, Douglas Quintal, said the fire changed her. He was the one who found her dead in their South Boston home. She was buried in her wedding dress.



    bustikita - go back to page 24 and read posts #1172 through #1176, as those three have been much discussed.
    Last edited by billoween; 05-16-2020 at 12:02 PM.

  53. #1400
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ridgefield, CT
    Posts
    293
    RETURNEES--Patrons Who Left The Station But Returned--

    (Most of them had a blue-ink hand-stamp that read Feb 20, 2003)


    1.) John Longiaru (D) and Melanie Fontaine

    Due to his degenerative bone disease, John Longiaru found it difficult to stand for long periods of time. So, he and his fiancee, Melanie Fontaine, left the club about 10 pm and sat together in his car until 10:55 pm. From their spot of the left side of the parking lot, they saw Brian Butler wheel into Knight's Nissan in his WPRI-TV vehicle at about 10:40 pm.

    Longiaru told Melanie that he didn't feel well, and suggested that he drive home and that she stay and get a ride home later with her brother, Mark Fontaine (D), who was also at the show with friends. When Melanie told Longiaru that she would prefer to leave with him, Longiaru expressed guilt about them both suddenly departing, because the tickets had been a birthday gift to Melanie from her brother--whereupon they returned to the club.


    2.) Andrea Stewart and Leigh Ann Moreau (D)

    After Trip's set, Moreau said she wanted to buy cigarettes. So she and her best friend, Stewart, left the club for a short period of time. Moreau was in a real hurry, according to Stewart; she was worried they might miss Great White's opening number.


    3.) Matthew Dussault and Kristen McQuarrie (D)

    They arrived in McQuarrie's car at 7:30 and left briefly at 8:30 to buy cigarettes.


    4.) George Dionne

    He arrived very early, but left soon after to go to a Best Buy. He said he'd wanted to "pass some time" until the bands at The Station began. He was back by 9:00 pm.


    5.) Mike Vargas

    He left the The Station just before Trip played. "The opening band wasn't coming out for a while so I left," he told police. "I went to a CD store called 'Slip Disc' in the next plaza over.....I was gone maybe 20, 25 minutes."

    He never got a hand-stamp for re-admittance, but Andrea Mancini just waved him back in; she was a regular customer at the GNC Store he managed in Johnston.
    Last edited by billoween; 05-16-2020 at 08:50 PM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •