For those unfamiliar with the tragedy: The Station Fire in 2003 was one of the deadliest in US history. The investigation led to significant changes in fire codes regarding soundproofing materials and pyrotechnics in venues. Joe's survival and recovery have made him a powerful voice for safety and burn survivors everywhere. His daughter's name is Hadley.
Here provides the folloiwng conte (and more images): xt
By LYDIA WARREN FOR MAILONLINE
Published: 14:03 EST, 15 October 2014
Severely burned survivor of deadly 2003 nightclub fire shares his joy as he welcomes a baby girl with fellow burn victim
Joe Kinan suffered third- and fourth-degree burns over 40 per cent of his body during the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island in February 2003
The fire, which claimed 100 lives, was started by pyrotechnics on stage
He lost his left eye, his fingers and ears and has undergone 128 surgeries
But in 2007 he met Carrie Pratt, who herself had been burned as a child, at a burn victims conference and they are now engaged
In April, they welcomed their first child Hadley
A man who suffered devastating burns to much of his body after surviving the deadly 2003 Station nightclub fire has shared his joy at the birth of his baby daughter.
Joe Kinan suffered third- and fourth-degree burns and lost his hands, ears and the sight in his left eye in the blaze in West Warwick, Rhode Island, which killed 100 people and injured more than 200.
Despite suffering the most extensive injuries of any of the survivors, Kinan, now 45, has fought through 128 surgeries and is now the proud father of a six-month-old girl.
'Carrie has brought everything to my life,' he told People magazine. 'I feel happy, nervous, fulfilled... I'm just determined to be the best dad I can be.'
Baby Hadley is Kinan's second child. He also had a 24-year-old daughter, Kate Sullivan, from a relationship before the life-changing blaze.
'I love making her smile,' he said of Hadley. 'She's brought me so much joy.'
It's a life far from the emotional and physical pain he suffered in the aftermath of the Station nightclub fire, the fourth deadliest club fire in U.S. history.
Kinan was 34 when he went to the West Warwick club on February 20, 2003 with a girlfriend to see a show by the band Great White, who used pyrotechnics in their set.
Within seconds of the show starting, curtains caught fire and, within just five minutes, the entire building had been burned down.
A hundred people died and more than 200 were injured as concert-goers desperately tried to escape. Some, like Kinan's friend Karla Bagtaz, suffocated among the crowd.
'It was just this wave of people falling on top of each other,' Kinan recalled, People reported. 'All I saw was black smoke... I was in terrible pain until my skin burned off. Then I had no feeling.'
After suffering burns to 40 per cent of his body and nearly losing his scalp, he spent a year in hospital undergoing skin grafts. He lost his fingers, toes and his left eye.
When he left the hospital, he covered every mirror in his home and refused to go out. But after two years of suffering in seclusion, he decided to look at himself in the mirror.
'These scars couldn't be hidden,' he said. 'I had to accept it, or it was going to eat me up.'
He met Pratt, who was badly burned by bad coffee on her chest and neck as a toddler, at the World Burn Congress in Vancouver in 2007. As soon as she met Kinan, she liked him, she said.
'His appearance was no big deal,' she said. 'He had a great outlook. I liked his personality.'
The two became friends but slowly their relationship developed to something more.
'I felt safe,' she said. 'He wanted to take care of me. Joe is my rock.'
The couple, who live in Lakeville, Massachusetts, became engaged two years ago, on the anniversary of their first meeting.
Three days later, he went into surgery to receive a hand transplant - so he can now feel his baby daughter's soft hair, he said.
On the evening of February 20, 2003, a fire occurred at The Station, a nightclub and music venue in West Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, killing 100 people and injuring 230. During a concert by the rock band Jack Russell's Great White, an offshoot of the original Great White band, a pyrotechnic display ignited flammable acoustic foam in the walls and ceilings surrounding the stage. Within six minutes, the entire building was engulfed in flames. The fire remains the deadliest firework accident in U.S. history and the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history. It was also the second-deadliest nightclub fire in New England, behind the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire.
Fair_Sugar_3229 on November 17th, 2025 at 17:21 UTC »
For those unfamiliar with the tragedy: The Station Fire in 2003 was one of the deadliest in US history. The investigation led to significant changes in fire codes regarding soundproofing materials and pyrotechnics in venues. Joe's survival and recovery have made him a powerful voice for safety and burn survivors everywhere. His daughter's name is Hadley.
Spartan2470 on November 17th, 2025 at 17:37 UTC »
Here provides the folloiwng conte (and more images): xt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire
ScrewAttackThis on November 17th, 2025 at 17:43 UTC »
There's video of the fire: https://youtu.be/rO0ioCCiEe8 (NSFW, you're hearing screams of people dying)
It was filmed by a news crew doing a report on nightclub safety. The reporter was one of the nightclub owners...