In 2009, 156 people were killed in a fire at the Lame Horse nightclub in Russia. Even in a country with a very poor fire safety record, the scale of the tragedy was unprecedented. Within days of the fire several arrests had been made.
The trials of those accused have now been completed, and stiff sentences have been passed. Is Russia finally starting to take control over its fire safety standards?
The Lame Horse Fire
On 5 December 2009, a blaze broke out in a nightclub in the city of Perm, Russia.
There were around 300 people in the Lame Horse club at the time. The night was supposed to be one of celebration with fireworks organised to mark the club’s eighth anniversary. But tragically, despite the obvious risk, the organisers allowed the use of outdoor fireworks inside the venue.
The flames caught hold on wicker and plastic decorations covering the ceiling, and many of the clubbers were killed in the crush when trying to escape through a single narrow exit. Others were to die of their burns and smoke inhalation. The final death toll was 156 with more than 100 injured.
Contributing causes
There was a rear door exit, which was behind the stage and not highlighted by emergency lighting. Since most of the occupants did not know it was there they tried to leave by the front entrance. Making matters worse, one leaf of the double-doored entrance was locked shut.
The club’s licence allowed for only 50 guests, and building alterations had not included the escape windows which were required by the planning permission they had obtained. Another factor contributing to the high death toll appears to be the inadequate emergency response, which was highly criticised by witnesses. With the outside temperature at -16 degrees C it’s little wonder that fire victims left lying in the snow unaided for an hour later died.
Convictions
In May 2012, the club’s former co-owner was extradited to Russia from Spain and jailed for six-and-a-half years. Then, at the conclusion of recent hearings, the owner of the nightclub, Anatoly Zak, was convicted of negligence and handed a prison sentence of nine years and 10 months. Six other defendants, including the organiser of the pyrotechnics show and three fire safety officials, were jailed for between four and six years; and the former head of the region’s fire inspectors was fined.
Complacent regulation
On the face of it, Russia had a structure of regulation which should have prevented the tragedy. Firemen carried out regular checks of the Lame Horse club, and the use of the type of fireworks involved is reportedly banned. But locals blamed corruption within the authorities, with one saying that fire inspectors were accustomed to demanding bribes rather than enforcing fire safety regulations.
Following further tragedies, the latest being an explosion at an arms depot on 5 June 2012, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev raised fines for violations of fire safety regulations. The maximum penalties were doubled for individuals and raised tenfold for some organisations. The Russian Emergencies Ministry has also been adopting European standards for fire testing, though only partly so far.
Fire safety in Russia
Figures from the World Fire Statistics Centre show an alarmingly high rate of fatalities from fire within Russia at 10 per 100,000 (2006). More recent statistics for the actual numbers involved, suggest this adds up to more than 13,000 deaths each year. Equivalent figures for the UK in 2006, are 0.9 per 100,000.
Clearly, a clamp-down on standards is long overdue, further demonstrated by the fire in a psychiatric unit near Moscow at the end of April 2013 in which 36 were killed.
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I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again: Corruption kills. It looks like justice has finally been served. Accidents and incidents like this don’t need to happen. You could prevent or avoid them altogether if you follow regulations.