Opening in 1971, the club, situated less than three kilometres outside of Cincinnati, was extremely popular, drawing its talent from Las Vegas, Nashville, Hollywood and New York. In 1976 upgrades occurred to the club, creating a complex of intertwining function rooms, corridors, and service areas connected by narrow corridors.
On the night of the fire it is believed that almost 3000 patrons and 182 employees were inside the club. Whilst there is speculation that the fire was started intentionally (with new evidence brought to light in 2008), it is still unknown as to how the fire first started in the Zebra Room.
A combination of a lack of sprinkler systems and audible automatic fire alarms, as well as overcrowding and poor oversight by staff members, resulted in the death of 165 people and the injury of 200 more. There are those who raise the death toll to 167, to include two unborn children of two pregnant women who died.
The last victim of the fire, a woman, died on March 1 1978, nearly ten months after the fire.
As of 2012, the case still remains unopened and unanswered.
Image available: http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2002/05/26/loc_beverly_hills_blaze.html
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