Nightclub Tragedy Proves Need for Fire Sprinklers: Could It Happen Again In USA?

Associated Press

17-03-2025

Linthicum Heights, MD, March 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The world watches as news comes from North Macedonia, where a massive fire killed 59 people and injured 155 in a nightclub. Pyrotechnics are cited as the cause of the fire, which reminds Americans of the Station Nightclub fire, which occurred in Rhode Island in February of 2003.
While all the details of the fire tragedy are not yet known, the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) points out that automatic fire sprinkler systems are the only active part of fire protection measures installed in a building that have the ability to control and contain a fire before the arrival of the fire department. When all other fire prevention and fire protection deficiencies are overcome by the fire, partners in protection are all that is left. Fire sprinklers and firefighters are partners in protection; mitigating the impact of fire on occupants, building owners, communities, and firefighters. Containing the fire to the object or area where it starts is the best way to save lives and protect property. This preserves business continuity, maintains economic viability, reduces the risk to firefighters, and reduces the impact to the environment for all communities.
The NFSA expresses its sympathy for the victims of the North Macedonia fire and hopes that this tragedy will serve as a reminder that we must stay vigilant in our efforts to retrofit occupancies like these in the United States. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 provides a tax incentive for building owners to retrofit their buildings with fire sprinklers. For more information on this, please visit. www.nfsa.org/taxreform.
'I was a fire lieutenant in Brentwood, TN when the Station Night Club happened. I remember almost every fire department in America with a nightclub in its community put fire departments on inspection duty to ensure that didn't happen there. Six months later, very few fire departments did company inspections of those occupancies,' explains NFSA President Shane Ray. 'Over 20 years later, the codes and standards are now under attack more than I've ever experienced in my career because political decisions are being made on codes and standards that ignore the proven process of code development and fail to listen to input from fire officials that are still active in the process.'
'As a survivor of The Station Nightclub Fire, tragedies like this take us back to that moment that we lost so much,' adds Rob Feeney a survivor of the fire and now an Onset Fire Department Captain and Common Voices advocate. 'We have worked so hard with our advocacy efforts, and we continue to fight to raise awareness of the importance of codes, standards, and the installation of fire sprinklers.'
About the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA): NFSA was founded in 1905 and wants to create a more fire safe world and works to heighten the awareness of the importance of fire sprinkler systems from homes to high-rise and all occupancies in between. The Association is an inclusive organization made up of dedicated and committed members of a progressive life-saving industry. This industry manufactures, designs, supplies, installs, inspects, and services the world's most effective system in saving lives and property from uncontrolled structural fires.
For more information about fire sprinklers, how they work and access to additional resources and information, visit www.nfsa.org for the latest material, statistics and a dedicated team of fire safety advocates ready to serve all stakeholders to fulfill the vision of a safer world.