I'm pretty sure this is a gay club (I seem to remember a friend talking about it)

CNN - Breaking News Alert

A fire swept through a nightclub in southern Brazil, killing at least 90 people early Sunday, officials said.

The
fire started around 2 a.m. at the Kiss nightclub in the city of Santa
Maria. Firefighters were still pulling out bodies, and Col. Adilomar
Silva, the regional coordinator of civil defense, expected the death
toll to climb.

Officials could not immediately say what caused the fire.

Here is an article on the fire. At least 90 dead !!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/ninety-killed-nightclub-fire-brazil-104100974.html

Oh my that's so unfortunate. RIP.

They are now saying up to 240 dead. How can that be possible? Don't they have regulations on exit doors?

A report reads that the bar had only one exit door. I am not sure whether this means one main door and one emergency exit door... Anyways, another thing is it happened at 2 am... Most bars close here in the US by that time... I think some regulations have to change over there...

Unfortunately, this is similar to several fires at nightclubs here in the US. The CopaCabana comes to mind and several others.

There is no excuse, other than greed, to pack in customers in any space, never mind one that does not have adequate exit points.

Best regards,

RA1

They are now saying the club was more than 1,000 people over capacity.

fireworks should not be allowed in doors. Or any type of pyrotechnics. This reminds me of the station fire that killed 100 people about 10 years ago in Rhode island

We (USA) learned from the Cocoanut Grove fire, I wish others would.

The Cocoanut Grove was Boston's premier nightclub during the post-Prohibition 1930s and 1940s. On November 28, 1942, this club was the scene of the deadliest nightclub fire in US history, killing 492 people (which was 32 more than the building's authorized capacity) and injuring hundreds more. The enormity of the tragedy shocked the nation and briefly replaced the events of World War II in newspaper headlines. It led to a reform of safety standards and codes across the country, and major changes in the treatment and rehabilitation of burn victims.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire

the station fire was even caught on video gives you the chills. you can see the fire starting around the 6:55 mark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jae1fglq-9g

Very upsetting that so many lives lost many at a young age ... especially when simple updating could probably have prevented the tragic end.

As for the station fire it gives me cills. I promoted concerts for many years in like clubs with extensive pyrotechnics happening. I'm so thankful that while there was an incident or two no one was harmed.

Jack and Mark of Great White are good people from Orange County, CA. I'm certain the station fire had a huge impact on them.

I've never been to Brazil - do many of the clubs suffer from overcrowding and not enough exits?

Many Nightclubs (worldwide) aren't synonymous with safe building codes and accessible exits. The only exit patrons know is the way they took in, and many are just plan dank pits. Toss in the fact that many folks there are drunk or have been drinking/doing drugs. These places are a disaster waiting to happen.