Brazil nightclub fire probe points to band's flare

SANTA MARIA, Brazil The lead police investigator into a nightclub fire that killed 234 people in southern Brazil says the music group playing at the time lit a flare designed for outdoor use that set the club's ceiling on fire.

Police inspector Marcelo Arigony said in a news conference Tuesday that "the flare was for outdoor use only and the people who lit them know that."

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More than 200 die in Brazil nightclub fire

He said the investigation will take 20 days and then state prosecutors will determine whether to file charges in the early Sunday fire. Preliminary information had shown that the Kiss nightclub had no sprinklers and no emergency exits.

Arigony said "any child could have seen that this establishment should not have been open."

Earlier Tuesday, a state forensics department raised the death toll from a nightclub fire in Brazil to 234 people.

Local authorities had said 231 people died in the blaze, but the Rio Grande do Sul state raised the number Tuesday to account for three additional victims whose names didn't appear on the original list.

One of the victims had originally been confused with another person with a similar name. Another was identified early Sunday but didn't appear on a previous list.

The blaze broke out early Sunday at a packed nightclub in Santa Maria, a college town of about 260,000 in southern Brazil.

Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation. More than 122 injured people remain hospitalized.

The repercussions of the fire widened Tuesday as mayors around the country cracked down on such venues in their own cities and investigators searched two other nightspots owned by a partner in the club that caught ablaze.

The government of the country's biggest city, Sao Paulo, promised tougher security regulations for nightclubs and other places where many people gather. President Dilma Rousseff promised Monday that "we have the responsibility to make sure this never is repeated." Mayors in other cities pledged to follow suit, especially with the upcoming start of Carnival, which floods nightclubs with celebratory crowds.

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Since the fire, a Rio de Janeiro consumer complaint hotline has received more than 60 calls denouncing hazardous conditions at night spots, theaters, supermarkets, schools, hospitals and shopping malls around the state. Blocked emergency exits and non-existent fire alarms and extinguishers top the list of most common complaints.

[Elson_Silva]

'NULL VOTE IN THE NEXT 236 YEARS' - 'each year for each soul wasted'. A challenge suggested by 'Tubarc' a PhD scientist thrown in the trash in a similar way like those college students. For justice we need to make Brazil the country of NULL VOTE so the international community understand our suffering, disappointment, and regret about the government we have. The vote is mandatory, so we intend to cancel our votes to show we reject a fake, expensive, inefficient, and corrupt democracy that constantly fails management on public affairs that hurts in the core our human dignity. It is launched this challenge to make SANTA MARIA and KISS NIGHTCLUB the center of change in Brazil revealing our creativity and resolve to make ends meet. If we are so talented on soccer, samba, and carnival, together we can be also the democratic country of NULL VOTE. We need to use this tragedy honoring those erased so vainly as a power for changes and making it happen for the good of us all.

[WillowSunstar]

They should at the very least have to pay a rather hefty fine, if not have some jail time involved for whoever made the decision to set off the flares. What they did was careless.

[Ericwvb]

My experience with clubs here in the US (Northern California) is that people flock to clubs that are packed; they feel happy there because it's lively and exciting. That's the way for clubs to make the most money as well, as your bar is being fully utilized and you're getting the most out of your overhead.

The quickest way to kill a club is to actually limit the number of patrons to the fire department code maximum capacity. It's usually quite low and some clubs that had gotten in trouble with the fire department had to strictly adhere to the posted limit. I'm not sure those places stay in business.

I've been packed like a sardine in a night club before, and often I think if there was a fire the chances of me getting alive are very low.

This shows the need for emergency exits and sprinkler systems.

[MiCallage]

I totally agree with you, but I live in this city, I see that most of the youngsters like places with lots of people. After that I believe that these young people will not want to be in a place where they can barely move. At least I hope so, because the clubs put more people than was allowed by law and no one ever reported.

[DanHopkins1]

US Professional Politicians know what to do:
1. Limit the capacity of nightclubs. Any nightclub must hold under 10 people.
2. Ban full-auto sparks. Sparks can be only launched one at a time to minimize accidents
3. Ban a list of 100 named clubs that hold too many people
4. All nightclubs must be registered and every member must be background checked for pyrotechnical materials
and 5. Repeal a few amendments

That's how the US politicians deal with tragedies!

[bobnjersey]

[That's how the US politicians deal with tragedies]
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wow dan ... aren't you quite the azzhole?

what's your proposal ... all nightclubs should be free to put as many people as risk as they choose ... and trust them to do the right thing ... because that's their 'right'?

is that how a gun monkey would ignore the obvious and put others at risk for your own selfish end?

[FendAshes]

Not the band, maybe. Sorry. The pyrotechnics if it wasn't the band. And they should find it real hard to find new jobs.

[FendAshes]

Why would they NOT press charges if the band KNEW it was for outdoor use?? If the band pulled out guns and shot everyone and knew the guns were loaded before shooting, would they still only consider charging them?
If the band isn't charged for knowingly shooting off pyrotechnics indoors that were meant only for outdoors, I hope they have a real hard time getting gigs. Thank you for not naming the band involved, I don't think they deserve any publicity at all.