Daniel Biechele stands out as an upright, decent citizen in all this, and I really wish him the best in his own struggles.

Pain is relative to the person and the experience. In my lonely travels, in train stations and airport terminals, when the quiet of the wait sinks in, not a moment in the day can go by, knowing the outcome if we had gone. My whole life I can always say, ‘well what if?’ I never live that way anymore. I live as if tomorrow never will come, and always stop people, when they say ‘wow what if you were there’

I wasn’t, but who had people that were..ANYTHING you want to do to get this rolling off the ground with a memorial, let me know. This is preposterous. My deepest condolences for your and everyone’s losses.

After pouring over thousands of articles and studies of this tragedy, I find that MANY factors came together all at the same time. Before the fire , the fire inspector should have known the foam was solid gasoline. Not only that but the ceiling tiles were sprayed with a highly flammable tar like substance to make them black. The fire extinguisher bracket from the wall near the stage had came off so someone put that extinguisher in a closet, which no one else knew. The front entrance was a death trap, the place was over crowded, pool tables were pushed up against the windows to make more room which hampered escape, fans pushed the flames outward from the stage, and of course the pyro set the whole thing in motion. With the deadly speed of this fire, patrons had very little chance of getting out. According to survivors accounts, the smoke and heat were already unbearable even while the camera man was making his way to the door, which he did not hamper any one, he was on the move the whole time, it is clear in the video. Even if he had tried to go back in he would not have been able to, look at the number of people behind him. I think this video is a vital tool and I am glad it exists. Butler was not at fault in any way, he was just doing his job. He had no idea he was about to film such a major news story. Like someone else said he busted out a window, but in his account of the incident he said, I noticed when the pyro stopped, the flame had kept going on both sides. And then on one side, I noticed it come over the top, and that’s when I said, ‘I have to leave.’ And I turned around, I said, ‘Get out, get out, get to the door, get to the door!’ And people just stood there.

As far as the band, not many have come to there defense, The band members were deeply effected by this event. Not only did they loose a guitar player, some of them had to undergo counselling. In the videos of Jack Russel the night of the fire, he appears shell shocked. By there own admission they have never and will never play Desert Moon again, it is just way to painful for them. Put yourself in that position for a moment. Here is a group playing clubs, these guys don’t have big money. They depended on the road manager to work out details about pyro , agreements, and permissions. They don’t get involved with that stuff. It is not like they intended for any of this to happen. Under other conditions the pyro would have been fine. Daniel Biechele, the road manager, against his lawyers’ advice, pled guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter on February 7, 2006, in what he said was an effort to “bring peace, He was devastated, he can be seen on the video trying to pull people out, and working with fire hoses. From the start he took responsibility for his actions, which is more then I can say for the club owners, fire inspectors, and others involved. The band did pay out money in the settlements and they donated a large portion of proceeds from the tour to the victims fund.

No one took charge, it was like everyone was waiting for someone else to do something. With the speed of this fire the lack of reaction contributed to the death toll. But one thing I have to remember here, it is easy to second guess this whole thing. We have time to think about it, and rationalize what we could or would have done. These folks had only seconds to react, many were drinking which was also a factor. They were in a death trap. When I ask myself what I would have done, I really can not answer.

My heart goes out to all concerned. My prayers are with the victims families and the survivors who will never be normal again. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering many of these people have experienced and continue to experience. I pray we have all learned some valuable lessons from this. I would invite you to visit this site. http://www.angelsofrhodeisland.com/

Unfortunately, all that needed to happen that night is for no Pyrotechnics to be set off and all would still be here.

My heart goes out to all the families.

Here are the settlement numbers:

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

The number is actually $175 million so far

“As of August 2008, nearly $175 million has been offered to the families of the victims of the fire by various defendants in settlement.”

The numbers are all in Wikipedia.