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Playing with Fire At Club Elite
posted (May 27, 2014)
Club Elite is the latest incarnation of the Princess Ramada Hotel's clubbing scene inside the hotel, but on last Friday, patrons got a bit more than they bargained for when a pyrotechnic stunt got out of control.

Persons who were there told us that one of the bartenders ran liquor along the length of the bar, and lit it on fire. Might sound scary, but they do that all the time when the club is hyped up - and, if you've had a few - it's usually quite a show to see the trail of fire race from one end of the bar to the next. On Friday, however, the bartender reportedly wanted to keep the fire going a little longer than usual and he poured more liquor on the bar. But, the fire spread from the bar to liquor bottle causing it to explode. One of the patrons who was nearby caught the brunt of the explosion and reportedly suffered significant burns because of it.

Another nearby patron got a little bit of the rum on fire on his clothes which caught on fire. We're told that in their panic to try to put out the blazing liquid on them, then scared a large number of the club goers who dashed for the exit.

And while that's the account that we've been given from multiple sources, today the General Manager told us that this version of events was greatly exaggerated. He said that from what he was told, there was a drunken patron who shoved his hand into the fire on the bar after the bartender had lit the display on fire. He told us that this is how the patron got burnt. He also claimed to have video footage of the entire incident, to prove that it was exaggerated, and not the fault of the staff working the bar.

We also spoke with the Fire Chief who told that negligent use of fire is an offence, and he has ordered a formal investigation.

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