59 dead: another nightclub fire tragedy
Flammable materials contributed to the 59 fire deaths and 196 injured at the Pulse Club, Kocani, North Macedonia, 16th March. The country’s Interior Minister said the fire may have been caused by pyrotechnic devices, with sparks igniting the ceiling “made of easily flammable materials”, and with fire spreading rapidly across the whole discotheque with thick smoke. The venue, in a former warehouse, is said to have lacked fire extinguishers, sprinklers and emergency exits, with access difficulties for firefighters, and to have been illegally licensed. Media suggest that these failures correspond to systemic government failures. Sadly, history repeats, and the lessons of the 1942 Boston Cocoanut Gove fire (see pinfa-NA webinar, above) are not yet learned everywhere.
“Investigation underway into Macedonian nightclub fire that killed 59”, UK Fire Protection Association news 23rd March 2024 https://www.thefpa.co.uk/news/investigation-underway-into-macedonian-nightclub-fire-that-killed-59 Photo Wikipedia, Toshe Ognjanov https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Remains_of_night_club_in_Kochani_after_the_fire_VOA-full.jpg
