History's worst nightclub fires -

The fire that ripped through a nightclub in North Macedonia in March 2025 killing 59 people shocked many. The inferno is thought to have erupted when special-effect pyrotechnics caused the roof of the Pulse nightclub to go up in flames. It's not the first time errant indoor firework displays have been blamed for nightclub fires. The tragedy also illustrates the frequency in which these types of calamities occur: one of the very first nightclub fires took place as far back as 1929. So what are some of history's most notorious dancefloor disasters?

Click through the gallery for an alarming reminder. 

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Kočani nightclub fire -

On March 16, 2025, a fire consumed the Pulse nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, as about 500 people were attending a concert of Macedonian hip-hop duo DNK.   

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Kočani nightclub fire -

The duo employed the use of pyrotechnics as part of their stage show. Sparks from the fireworks ignited flammable acoustic sheets that burned across the roof structure. Mobile phone footage shows just how quickly the flames spread. The tragedy claimed 59 people and illustrated the danger of using indoor fireworks in such a confined space. 

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Study Club fire -

One of the first nightclub fires on record, the blaze that tore through the Study Club dance hall in Detroit, Michigan on September 20, 1929, killed 22 people and injured over 50. The club was operating as an illegal speakeasy during the Prohibition era. 

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Rhythm Club fire -

On April 20, 1940, a fire ripped through the Rhythm Club in Natchez, Mississippi. The inferno claimed 209 people and injured many others. The wood-frame building, a former church, was engulfed by flames in a matter of minutes. 

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Cocoanut Grove fire -

The Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire is the deadliest nightclub fire in history. A popular Boston nightspot, the club caught fire on November 29, 1942. The flames incinerated the interior of the building, killing 492 and injuring 270. The high loss of life was due mainly to a lack of exits and the rapid spread of the blaze. 

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Karlslust dance hall fire -

The worst disaster in Berlin since the Second World War, the Karlslust dance hall fire claimed 81 lives on February 8, 1947. The venue was located in Spandau's old town district (pictured), in what was then the British sector of the city.

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Top Storey Club fire -

The Top Storey Club in Bolton, Greater Manchester, remains one of the UK's worst nightclub fires. On May 1, 1961, 19 revelers perished when flames quickly spread through the venue, which was on the top floors of an old mill warehouse building. Several of the victims died after jumping from windows. 

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Dales' Penthouse fire -

Dale's Penthouse was a swanky restaurant and nightclub located on the top of an 11-story apartment building in Montgomery Alabama (pictured). On February 7, 1967, a fire broke out, apparently started by a non-extinguished tobacco pipe left in a jacket pocket in the cloakroom. Twenty-five people were killed, many of them trapped because of the lack of a fire escape. 

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Club Cinq-Sept fire -

France experienced its worst nightclub fire on November 1, 1970, when Club Cinq-Sept, located in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, Isère, caught fire. The disaster claimed the lives of 146 people. 

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Blue Bird Café fire -

On September 1, 1972, in Montreal, Quebec (pictured), 37 people were killed in a fire at the Blue Bird Café, a nightclub on the west side of the city's Union Street. The cause was later determined as arson. 

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Playtown Cabaret fire -

The Playtown Cabaret fire occurred as part of a bigger conflagration that engulfed the Sennichi Department Store building in Osaka (pictured) on May 13, 1972. The top-floor cabaret venue was filled to capacity with 181 patrons of which 118 lost their lives. The fire remains one of Japan's worst peacetime disasters. 

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UpStairs Lounge fire -

Arson was blamed for the fire that broke out at the UpStairs Lounge on June 24, 1973. Thirty-two people died in the attack, which left the popular gay club, located in New Orleans' French Quarter, gutted. It remains one of the deadliest attacks on LGBT people in United States history. 

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Time Club fire -

On November 3, 1974, in the South Korean capital Seoul (pictured), a fire took hold inside the Time Club after flames advanced through a hotel to reach the packed venue. The fire, later blamed on a short circuit, claimed 88 lives.   

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Beverly Hills Supper Club fire -

The Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Southgate, Kentucky, also has the dubious honor of being one of the worst nightclub fires in history. A total of 169 people died, with at least 200 injured. 

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Denmark Place fire -

The Denmark Place fire of August 16, 1980, was a notorious case of arson against mostly Spanish and Latin American patrons. Thirty-seven people died in the fire, which occurred in central London near Denmark Street (pictured). 

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Stardust fire -

Tragedy visited the Stardust nightclub in Artane, a suburb of Dublin, in the early hours of St. Valentine's Day, 1981, when a fire swept through the venue killing 48 people, most of them young, and injuring over 200.

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Alcalá 20 nightclub fire -

More than 600 people were in the Alcalá 20 when fire broke out on December 17, 1983. The club, located on Calle de Alcalá in central Madrid, was completely destroyed by the flames that left 82 dead. 

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Happy Land fire -

The Happy Land social club in the Bronx was the target of arson on March 25, 1990, in which 87 people died. Most of the victims were young Hondurans celebrating Carnival. The fire was one of New York's deadliest. 

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Ozone Disco fire -

The fire that destroyed the Ozone Club in the Philippine city of Quezon City on March 18, 1996, left at least 162 people dead. It remains among the 10 worst nightclub fires in the world. Pictured is the Ozone Disco building in 2008. The site was never restored after the blaze and ended up being demolished in March 2015.

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Luoyang Christmas fire -

The deadly Luoyang Christmas fire took place in Luoyang, in China's Henan Province, on December 25, 2000. A dance club situated in a building that caught fire after welding sparked inflammable materials was quickly engulfed in flames. Over 300 people died, making Luoyang the second deadliest nightclub fire after 1942's Cocoanut Grove tragedy.  

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Volendam New Year's fire -

Fourteen young people died in a café fire in the Dutch town of Volendam as revelers were celebrating in the early hours of New Year's Day 2001. Over 200 were injured. Pictured is a survivor of the inferno. 

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Myojo 56 building fire -

One of the deadliest fires in post-war Japanese history took hold in the Myojo 56 nightclub in Tokyo on September 1, 2001. The number of dead numbered 44. The building is pictured in June 2003, still shuttered nearly two years after the incident. 

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Utopía nightclub fire -

The Utopía nightclub fire of July 20, 2002, claimed a total of 29 people. The blaze started in the Jockey Plaza shopping center, located in Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru. 

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Station nightclub fire -

The notoriety surrounding the Station nightclub fire still reverberates today. On February 20, 2003, a pyrotechnic display ignited flammable acoustic foam in the walls and ceilings surrounding the stage where rock band Jack Russell's Great White was playing. Within six minutes the entire building was on fire. One hundred people were killed and another 230 injured in a disaster that was captured on several mobile devices as it unfolded. 

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República Cromañón nightclub fire -

Indoor pyrotechnics was also blamed for igniting the República Cromañón nightclub fire which happened in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 30, 2004. Pictured is a makeshift memorial for some of the 194 people who died. 

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Wuwang Club fire -

A floorshow stunt involving pyrotechnics was the cause of the Wuwang Club fire on September 21, 2008, when 43 died. Pictured are bystanders watching from behind a police line outside the gutted Wuwang Club in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. 

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Santika Club fire -

Similarly in Bangkok, a fire ripped through the Santika Club in the city's Thong Lor district early on January 1, 2009, after a fireworks accident ignited the interior. At least 67 people were killed. Ironically, the flames spread as crowds cheered in the New Year to the pounding music of a band called Burn.

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Lame Horse fire -

The Lame Horse fire occurred on December 5, 2009, in the Russian city of Perm. Again, a pyrotechnics display gone wrong was blamed for the fire in the restaurant-nightclub in which 156 people perished. 

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Kiss nightclub fire -

Brazil has also mourned those killed in a nightclub fire caused by fireworks. On January 27, 2013, 242 people died and 630 injured when the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, erupted in flames after pyrotechnics set the ceiling on fire. 

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Colectiv nightclub -

A free concert performed by the metalcore band Goodbye to Gravity at Club Colectiv in Bucharest, Romania, on October 30, 2015, turned to tragedy after the band's pyrotechnics set fire to the interior. The ensuing inferno claimed 64 lives in the deadliest such incident in Romanian history.  

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Ghost Ship warehouse fire -

On December 2, 2016, fire engulfed the Ghost Ship warehouse venue in Oakland, California, during a music concert. The cause was likely due to an electrical fault but whatever the reason, 36 concertgoers died in the blaze. 

Sources: (WSFA 12) (BBC) (The Conversation) (Associated Press) (ABC News)  

See also: The worst hotel disasters in history.  

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