At least 95 people are dead and more than 180 injured after a pyrotechnics display at a Great White [ tickets ] concert ignited a fire that burned a Rhode Island nightclub to the ground on Thursday night (2/20).

Eighties-era metal act Great White took to the stage around 11 p.m. and was playing the first song in its set when sparks from a pair of large sparklers located on the left and right sides of the stage ignited the ceiling and foam soundproofing on the walls, according to published reports and video footage of the incident. Many in the crowd initially appeared to believe that the fire was part of the group's stage act.

The club--a single-story wood structure named the Station in Warwick, R.I. (near Providence)--was completely engulfed in flames within three minutes, Fire Chief Charles Hall told the reporters. The club's capacity was 300 people, and Hall told the Associated Press that the number of people inside the club when the fire broke out didn't appear to exceed that number. The club, which was more than 60 years old, was not required to have a sprinkler system.

Many of the dead were found clustered inside the club's front entrance, Hall said.

"They tried to go out the same way they came in. That was the problem," Hall said. "They didn't use the other three fire exits."

In addition to deaths from the heat and smoke, some of the victims appeared to have been trampled to death, Hall said.

More than 160 people were transported to area hospitals, and many are still listed in critical condition, with injuries ranging from severe burns to smoke inhalation.

At press time, Great White guitarist Ty Longley was among the people not yet accounted for.

Great White frontman Jack Russell has told various news outlets that the group's manager had received permission from the club's owner to use pyrotechnics, but a lawyer representing club owners told the AP that permission to use the pyro was neither requested nor granted. Hall told the AP that the building had recently passed a fire inspection.

The incident comes just four days after 21 people died in a stampede at a Chicago nightclub, and is the deadliest U.S. fire since the 1995 incident at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, in which almost 80 people died, the AP reports.

On Monday (2/17), fireworks allegedly ignited onstage by little-known Seattle group Jet City Fix started a blaze at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis. The approximately 120 fans at the show all escaped safely, and, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, police and fire officials gave the club an A-plus for its preparedness. The club reportedly suffered more than $1 million in damage.

The worst nightclub fire in U.S. history also occurred in New England; on Nov. 28, 1942, 491 people died at Boston's Coconut Grove nightclub.