AP Photo / Roger Shlossmacker
A crowd watches as the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, burns Jan. 27. The known death toll is 232 people.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Frank Sylvester, Lime Rock Fire Chief and a member of the Rhode Island Fire Code Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review, lamented the deadly fire in southern Brazil that killed more than 230 concert-goers early Sunday morning, a tragedy that echoed Rhode Island's Station Nightclub fire that occurred nearly a decade ago.
According to witnesses at the club in the city of Santa Maria, band members lit flares or fireworks that may have caused the quick-moving blaze, just as the tour manager of the band Great White did one cold February night in West Warwick, R.I. in 2003.
Rhode Island tightened its fire code laws after the fire that claimed 100 lives, and many of the changes influenced national fire code changes. Sylvester says he hopes more countries adopt tougher policies.
"We are much more conscious of the occupancy of venues and we have much stricter laws now," Sylvester said.
The top priority, Sylvester says, is "life safety."
The Rhode Island Fire Marshal's office conducts unannounced visits to establishments, including bars, restaurants and concert halls, Sylvester said, looking for heat and smoke detectors and sprinkler systems.
"The National Fire Protection Association has come up with some outstanding policies, but I don't think enough countries around the world have adopted them."
For more information on the national codes: www.nfpa.org
-- With reports from Associated Press