Originally published at: Wedding fire that killed 114 people in Iraq started by indoor fireworks, as seen in new video | Boing Boing
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“Indoor fireworks”: two words that really don’t belong together.
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indoor fireworks,
Well, there’s your problem.
This used to happen in the US in the ~30s - 50s where packed, dark night clubs with confusing layouts and chained doors so people couldn’t sneak in became death traps when a candle lit up some cheap fake palm frond and caught the whole place on fire.
It’s what sparked all of the fire safety codes.
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And still do. Had to google the example I thought of, and it was 2003(!!!), thought it was earlier than that.
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Damn government regulations…saving lives and preventing death. Communism I say!
(/sarc…hopefully obvious)
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OH yeah, it still happens. There is a channel called Fascinating Horror on youtube that chronicles many of them.
The early fires lead to the first fire codes, the later fires lead to refinement and use of fire retardant materials, etc.
But it still happens because people ignore the codes or create a new, hazardous situation that codes never thought to address. Everything is fine until a fire breaks out at a concert and you find out the owners made it a death trap. 
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Non-twitter links for those of us who will not click on an X/Musk advertising link.
NBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTO1uKKCrXw
AP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkB7LRX1znM
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The Station fire footage was a real eye-opener for me. Ever since I saw it I make it a point to come up with an escape plan and place myself near exits whenever I go to a show or other crowded event.
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I had been to the Station before the fire. As well as the World Trade Center, and several other places that later catastrophically ceased to exist. It is an eye opener realizing that death is always knocking.
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A fire captain lecturing our local CERT Volunteer team show this the video from that fire. So many things were wrong with that, but one of the ones that we can control about ourselves is normalcy bias, which is where we see the emergency but don’t react to it as if it’s an emergency.
When a fire starts indoors, react immediately.
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I’m not a fan of religion, but in this case the Bible hits on truth within the nonsense:
36No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,g but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. 39And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
42Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.43But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44For this reason, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.
45Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the others their food at the proper time? 46Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
48But suppose that servant is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master will be away a long time.’ 49And he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. 51Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Elvis Costello disagrees.
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Better have a look at that electrical system while you’re at it.
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Every safety code is written in blood.
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This horrific nightclub fire was particularly influential in that regard.
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