By Glenn Corbett
We all know the story–a crowded nightclub outside Cincinnati awaiting the performance of popular 1970’s entertainer, John Davidson. Fire starts in the Zebra Room and quickly spreads to the rest of the building. It moves towards towards the Cabaret Room where the opening act, a pair of comics, is performing. A young busboy grabs the mic and announces that a fire has broken out and asks the patrons to leave the building. Some immediately follow his order, many do not. When the fire actually bursts in the Cabaret Room, there are too many people trying to leave.
The result? 165 people die from the effects of the fire.
The cause of the fire? Faulty electrical equipment, an “electrician’s nightmare.”
But is the actual story different?
I received an intriguing phone call a few weeks ago. A man by the name of David Brock, a Beverly Hills employee, called to tell me about what happened that night 31 years ago. What he has told me is stunning and I believe will be shocking to the entire fire service. Dave will be joining us on this Fire Engineering Community group.
Some of you know that I have been involved with issues of the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11. Over the last six and a half years, I have received hundreds of phone calls and emails from the conspiracy theorists that bombs were placed and exploded in the Twin Towers and WTC building 7. None of these collapse theories hold sway with me; I have been “inoculated” against them. I don’t believe them, but I do believe Dave Brock.
So when Dave called me and told me about the Beverly Hills Supper Club, some things popped out at me. He not only knew all of the basic facts of the club and the fire, but he knew much, much more. It is evident that he has studied this fire for some time and has the documentation to back it up. The most important evidence he challenged me with floored me–the fire might not have been an electrical fire at all, it may have been something else more sinister. He alleges that the fire actually could have been intentionally set. If that is the case, this would be one of the largest mass murders in American history, ranking right behind the terrorist acts in Oklahoma City and New York.
What is important is that Dave Brock was actually there that night, in the Zebra Room. He saw things and reported them to authorities, but they never were investigated. He is making a simple request: reopen the investigation and place the all of the evidence, witness statements, and expert opinions under close scrutiny, using today’s investigation techniques and protocols.
I don’t think that is too much to ask.
In the following weeks, I will provide details about Brock’s work in additional articles here and on Fire Engineering’s main Web site so that you can make up your own mind. We’ll go back to 1970’s and 1980’s and look at the some of the critical details about the building, the fire, and the criminal and civil litigation cases–in essence, we’ll study the crucial facts.
I have created a group on the Fire Engineering Community site to discuss this fire. For members of the Fire Engineering Community website, it can be found by CLICKING HERE.
(If you are not a member, sigh up free for the Fire Engineering Community website here: http://community.fireengineering.com/
The Beverly Hills Supper Club disaster is a significant landmark fire in our fire service history. We owe it to the victims and their families to learn the truth, wherever it may lead.
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Glenn Corbett, PE, is the former assistant chief of the Waldwick (NJ) Fire Department, an assistant professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, and a technical editor for Fire Engineering. He recently served on the Federal Advisory Committee of the National Construction Safety Team and is a member of the Fire Code Advisory Council for New Jersey. He is the coauthor of the late Francis L. Brannigan’s Building Construction for the Fire Service, 4th Edition, and an FDIC Executive Advisory Board member. |
