night club catches on fire- at least 75 dead

[damasa]

Originally posted by AlphaSigOU
Not quite... the Cocoanut Grove supper club fire in Boston back in the 40s killed 492.

During the early days of World War II, a major fire struck the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts. On the night of the fire, November 28, 1942, the club had approximately 1,000 occupants, many of whom were people preparing to go overseas on military duty. A lighted match used by an employee in changing a light bulb has been considered the possible cause for this tragic fire, which took 492 lives. Almost half of the occupants were killed, and many were seriously injured. Flammable decorations spread the fire rapidly. Men and women were reported to have clawed inhumanly in an effort to get out of the building. The two revolving doors at the main entrance had bodies stacked four and five deep after the fire was brought under control. Authorities estimated that possibly 300 of those killed could have been saved had the doors swung outward. It should be noted that the capacity of the structure had also been exceeded.

The Cocoanut Grove fire prompted major efforts in the field of fire prevention and control for nightclubs and other related places of assembly. Immediate steps were taken to provide for emergency lighting and occupant capacity placards in places of assembly. Exit lights were also required as a result of the concern generated by this fire.

[Source: http://www.ezl.com/~fireball/Disaster21.htm]

Another fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, KY on June 28, 1977 killed 165.

http://www.cincypost.com/bhfire/ Detailed map of how the Beverly Hills fire started and spread: http://www.cincypost.com/bhfire/images/bhfire.jpg

sorry, it said "one" of the worst........my fault, i need to listen better....