A lot of people were there but could not get out, because the fire spread so rapidly. People were becoming overcome with smoke and hung up with each other. Some people were pulled from the exit, but I remember just watching a lot of them die right there in the doorway. But I know it was a very, very short period of time. If not seconds, literally a few minutes.
Seconds can make such a major difference.
Like I said, I had no idea whatsoever when I walked out that door. The fire raged through most of the night. The following day, the club was but a charred skeleton. Yes, I lost three friends, two women who were also cocktail waitresses in the Cabaret Room, and a male bartender. Within that next week, or week and a half, I guess I attended ten funerals, one right after another.