The fire extinguisher failed and security guards blocked the exit.
As the victims who survived the tragedy in Santa Maria give their testimonies, the reasons for so many deaths are beginning to become clear. Besides the Kiss nightclub's structural unpreparedness for emergencies, the procedures following the fire appear to have contributed to the disaster. According to a survivor's testimony to Rádio Gaúcha, the fire started weakly, but the fire extinguisher malfunctioned.
247 The causes of the tragedy that killed nearly 300 people in a nightclub are beginning to emerge. According to a survivor's testimony to Rádio Gaúcha, the fire started small, and the fire extinguisher did not work. When the fire intensified, there was a rush towards the only exit. But security guards blocked the exit and demanded that tabs be paid before people could leave the premises.
Read about the difficulty firefighters faced in entering the site:
Santa Maria's Diary The general commander of the Fire Department, Colonel Guido Pedroso Melo, reported that approximately 85 firefighters who arrived at the scene of the tragedy in Santa Maria encountered difficulties entering the area.
According to Melo, firefighters rescued approximately 150 people alive from inside the Kiss nightclub. He stated that the professionals encountered difficulties entering the premises due to a "barrier of bodies" near the entrance. Pedroso Melo revealed that accounts from young people indicated that the nightclub's door took five to ten seconds to be opened by security guards.
According to the commander, initially, in the early morning hours, firefighters had to remove the bodies—which were located near the exit door—and almost all of them were already dead. According to Melo, as firefighters entered the site, they found the victims' bodies stuck together due to the heat of the fire.
He reports that most of the bodies were inside the nightclub's two bathrooms. Many ended up running towards the bathroom believing it to be an exit. Most died of asphyxiation. The commander also says that between 1,5 and 2 people passed through the nightclub. However, its capacity was 800 to 900 people.
The fire permit had expired.
The general commander of the Fire Department, Colonel Guido Pedroso Melo, says that the fire permit — which is granted by the fire department — had expired since last year. The nightclub was notified, but did not comply with the fire department's requirement for adjustments.