A fire broke out in the crowded República Cromañón nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 December 2004, killing 194 people and leaving at least 1,492 injured.[1] The direct cause was the indoor pyrotechnics igniting the ceiling. It was a fireworks-related fire and a nightclub fire.
República Cromañón (Cro-Magnon Republic) was a venue that held concerts and events, on 3060-3066-3070 Bartolomé Mitre street in the Balvanera neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. It was operated by Omar Chabán, and opened on 12 April 2004 with a concert by the band Callejeros, the same band that played on the night of the fire.
The club was in a two-story building, with a main entrance with six doors behind it leading into the main area of the nightclub. On the night of the fire, four of the six doors were locked. There was also a connection to a nearby hotel, an emergency exit that was locked, and another emergency exit that was blocked by a fence in front of the stage.[2] There were hardly any fire safety measures, with no reports of a fire detection or alarm system, emergency lighting, or fire suppression equipment; ten of the fifteen fire extinguishers were unusable, with no pressure. The nightclub's fire safety license had run out the month before the fire.[2]
The venue was hosting rock group Callejeros, with an audience of around 4,000 people, almost three times the venue's capacity of 1,500.[3] The fire started when a pyrotechnic flare, a popular device in New Year's Eve celebrations, was set off and ignited foam in the ceiling. The fireworks accident quickly spread as the materials used in the building for decoration were flammable: mostly wood, styrofoam, acoustic panels and a plastic net (media sombra[4]). The net was hung from the ceiling and caught fire first, melting into a rain of fire. In some parts of the building, teddy bear stuffing was used as a cheap alternative to wool fiber. The owner and the band's lead singer had told the patrons not to use flares inside the building.
Four of the six doors, some of which were fire exits, were chained shut[3] so that "people would not enter without paying", according to Mayor Aníbal Ibarra. Most of the victims died from inhaling poisonous gases and carbon monoxide.[citation needed] After the fire the technical institution INTI found that, due to the materials and volume of the building, the concentration of cyanide in the air would have been about 225 ppm, sufficient to cause death within minutes of inhalation.[5] Many of the victims were identified to be in their teens and 20s, but rescue workers clearing the club also found children and babies.[6] Survivors reported that a bathroom in the nightclub had been used as a nursery, where parents could leave their children while watching the show.[7]
Following the disaster, an Argentine judge issued a national and international arrest order against Omar Chabán, local businessman and owner of República Cromañón and other nightclubs, including one called Cemento that had been closed by court orders many times before. Chabán was arrested at one of his houses in the neighbourhood of Montserrat.