Posted on 02/28/2003 11:10:57 AM PST by TaxRelief
By TOM MOONEY Journal staff writer
Updated 1:36 p.m. / The owner of American Foam Corp. in Johnston says The Station nightclub in June 2000 purchased $575 worth of common egg-crate packing foam for soundproofing, but it was not fire retardant.
The fire retardant foam would have cost twice as much, according to Aram DerManouelian, who said the club wanted "the lowest grade, the cheapest stuff."
"They had a choice, and they bought general purpose egg-crate foam," said DerManouelian. "It kept the noise down, but whoever figured they'd put flame on it? Jesus. For a $575 invoice, here we are."
Whether the soundproofing was safe and fire retardant, as required by law, is now at the center of the investigation into the blaze at West Warwick club last week, which has killed 97 and injured another 186 people. It was the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in the nation's history and the worst fire ever in Rhode Island.
Pyrotechnics set off by the band Great White apparently ignited the foam, then quickly spread to paneling and a suspended ceiling, filling the club with thick black smoke and flames. The building was engulfed within three minutes, West Warwick Fire Chief Charles Hall has said.
DerManouelian said Michael Derderian, co-owner of the club, wrote out a check for a delivery of 25 sheets of the charcoal foam on June 27, 2000. The foam was 2 1/2 inches thick. Each sheet was 37 by 84 inches in diameter. It was made of polyurethane and is generally used for packing.
"It's unfortunate," DerManouelian said. "They did not buy fire retardant foam. Yeah, they could have. We sell fire-retardant foam. They bought the wrong kind. In hindsight, they probably didn't think they were going to have a fire."
Kathleen M. Hagerty, a lawyer for Michael Derderian, confirmed that the club had purchased the foam. She said a neighbor who worked as a salesman for American Foam Corp. suggested they use it as a solution to complaints neighbors had about noise from the club.
Hagerty refused to identify the neighbor.
"We have someone looking for him, and the AG has someone looking for him, too," Hagerty said. "I don't know where the man is. He may be out of town for all I know."
Investigators hunting for the source of the stage insulation used at The Station nightclub searched American Foam Monday night and took samples of products.
The foam was installed to appease neighbors upset by the club's noise. Michael Derderian and his brother, Jeffrey, bought the club in March 2000.
The club's former manager, Tim Arnold, of Johnston, would not confirm or deny yesterday that he had installed the foam soundproofing. A woman who answered the door at his house said Arnold no longer worked at a foam company.
Meanwhile, the grand jury is apparently back in action at Rhode Island National Guard's Camp Fogarty in East Greenwich.
Jack Russell, lead singer for Great White, entered the complex shortly after noon. Several prosecutors from the state attorney general's office were also seen driving into the camp this morning.
Russell is seeking immunity from prosecution or a letter of non-prosecution from the attorney general's office for any possible testimony before the grand jury.
The attorney general's office asked for permission to use classrooms at the camp earlier this week. The grand jury started investigating Wednesday, but did not meet yesterday.
-- With reports from The Associated Press and Journal staff photographer Mary Murphy.
There are some bands who are 'related' to the stationrocks link. And a few have the station/link removed. (even though they show up in the google listing)
Here's an interesting statement, from one of the first reports on the fire (local News10)...
Gov. Don Carcieri, in a phone interview from Florida, questioned whether the club had the necessary permits allowing pyrotechnic displays. The governor said he would return to the state as soon as possible.
Does this mean it was the CLUB'S responsibilty to obtain the 'proper' license?
Later today, I'll do a search and see what kind of photos may be 'out there' on bands who have played the club and used pyro.
A move to sell the business and transfer the entertainment and liquor licenses was on the West Warwick Town Council agenda last month. The Derderians, through their corporation, Derco, LLC, had tentatively agreed to sell The Station to A & N Holding Co., a corporation created by Armando M. Machado, of Warwick ......(snip)....
Michael Derderian was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the club....(snip)...
It's unclear what else Michael Derderian did for a living. His divorce file says that he runs a business known as Investors Services Group. There is no listing for the business in the secretary of state's corporations database....(snip)...
Bruce Lang, founder of Operation Clean Government, said that he has known the Derderians since they were children... (snip)....Also, Lang said, Derderian had invested in a gas station.
March 4, 2003
BY MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
WEST WARWICK, R.I.--Inspectors never reported seeing the highly flammable and possibly illegal foam covering the walls of a nightclub where 98 people were killed in a fast-moving fire last month, according to documents released Monday that raise the possibility the inspections were botched.
The documents--more than 60 pages covering three years of inspections at the Station by town building and fire officials--do not mention the egg-crate packaging material employees say was installed as soundproofing in 2000.
Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer could not say why the foam wasn't noted in the reports. ''They either didn't see it or it wasn't there. Those are the two possibilities,'' Bauer said.
Fire inspector Denis Larocque and building inspector Stephen Murray did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The club's stage manager and sound engineer, Paul Vanner, said the foam had been there since 2000
************************************ OK, guys. Now I MUST leave and get back to my horses/kids. (LOL...I promise)
Inspections did not note foam at club
Town's records show erratic fire, building checks
By Christopher Rowland and Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff, 3/4/2003
EST WARWICK -- Three years in a row, fire inspectors failed to note that highly flammable polyurethane foam had been stuck to the wall behind The Station's stage as soundproofing, records released by the town revealed yesterday. In addition, the building inspector did not make the required annual inspection in two of the past three years.
The documents also showed that not long after the Derderian brothers bought the nightclub in March 2000, town officials pressured them to respond to neighbors' complaints about the noise emanating from the club. A month before the foam was installed, Police Chief Peter T. Brousseau issued a May 12, 2000, memo saying he had warned Michael Derderian that the nightclub's entertainment license would not be approved unless the noise problems were fixed.
''He is going to speak to the neighbors to work on issues,'' Brousseau wrote.
The records did not detail the resolution to the problem.
Michael Derderian's lawyer, however, has said that in June 2000, the nightclub bought packaging foam from one of the complaining neighbors, who worked for American Foam Corp. of Johnston, R.I.
Specialists say that kind of inexpensive foam burns much more quickly than more costly material treated with fire retardant, and produces a thick, toxic smoke. A videotape of the Feb. 20 concert at the bar shows the foam catching fire after being touched off by pyrotechnics set off by the band Great White. To date, the death toll is 98, with dozens still hospitalized.
The records released yesterday, which included fire inspection reports dating to 1992 and other memos, paint a picture of inconsistent inspection procedures and record-keeping lapses. West Warwick requires each business that holds a liquor license to undergo separate fire and building inspections each year. But under The Station's prior owners, between 1994 and 1998, the inspection records for the club show what appear to be cursory check-offs by the Fire Department of fire extinguishers, emergency lighting, and exit signs.
There is no record that an inspection was completed by either a fire or building inspector in 1999, even though then-Fire Chief Richard J. Rita warned the Town Council in February 1999 of a ''grave concern'' about overcrowding and potentially dangerous conditions at the club. Patrons' cars parked on nearby streets would make emergency crews' passage difficult, and the club was allowing too many patrons through its doors at large events, he said. The Fire Department planned to conduct spot inspections on occupancy to enforce the limit, he said, but there were no records that the checks occurred.
In 2000, five months after the foam was placed on the walls, John A. Peiczarek, then the Fire Department's director of communications, acted as the inspector and checked the club. His report did not mention the new foam on the walls, but it said an emergency light at the stage door and a door near the stage needed to be fixed.
That appears to be the first of three annual fire inspections that found the same violation -- an exit door near the stage that swung in the wrong direction. Each year, inspectors later signed off on the violation, saying it had been fixed.
Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer yesterday cited the repeated appearance of the exit door swinging inward as a clue that club owners may have made alterations after inspections. ''Once people comply, we would not normally expect people to change things or become lax again,'' he said.
Jeffrey Derderian's lawyer, Jeffrey Pine, said yesterday, ''At no time did the club ever get cited'' for the foam, ''and therefore, it was within the parameters of the code, and the documents released bear that out.''
In 2001 and 2002, Battalion Chief Denis Larocque, the fire inspector, cited the club for additional violations on emergency lights and signs, which were marked ''OK'' after follow-up inspections.
Building inspector Stephen Murray inspected the club in November 2002, citing a missing ceiling tile, a leaky roof, and an unsafe floor around the pool tables, but also did not mention the foam.
''It sounds like somebody did a thorough walk-through -- why didn't they notice the obvious?'' Matthias Mulvey, a building and zoning consultant who has worked as a building commissioner in several Massachusetts communities, asked yesterday. ''Somebody had to walk at least to the stage. That is just blatantly obvious, that kind of material.''
Rhode Island regulations say that ''when a doubt exists'' as to whether material in a club is fire retardant, an inspector should hold a match under a sample of the material in question for 12 seconds to see if it ignites.
Larocque and Murray have not responded to repeated requests for comment about their inspections of The Station. In the days after the blaze, Fire Chief Charles Hall flatly stated that Larocque did not miss any code violations. But yesterday, Bauer acknowledged there was a possibility the town missed something.
''They didn't see it,'' Bauer said of the foam. ''They didn't see it for one of two reasons: Either they missed it, or it wasn't there.''
Bauer said he was once an inspector and added, ''If I went into a dark club, and everything was painted black, whether I would have seen [the foam] walking through making the inspection I made, I don't know.''
New Hampshire State Fire Marshal Don Bliss, who is president of the National Association of State Fire Marshals, said evaluating wall or ceiling coverings can be ''one of the more difficult tasks an inspector faces.'' But the inspector is expected to ask for documentation that the material is fireproof and, failing that, to burn a sample to observe its flammability. ''That's pretty standard,'' Bliss said.
The Station was not required to have sprinklers, but the documents released yesterday show a $2,500 fire alarm system was installed shortly before the Derderians took over the club. New England Custom Alarms said it canceled its maintenance contract for the system after the Derderians failed to pay their bills.
Alarm company owner Joseph LaFontaine said neither brother responded to a registered letter he sent them in December reminding them to comply with state law and warning that he would no longer test the alarm system because of nonpayment, LaFontaine said.
In a typical contract, customers pay the alarm company $65 to $85 every six months to test the system to make sure it is operating properly. A ''heat gun'' is held near sensors in the basement, kitchen, and near the stage, and small box alarms are activated near exits.
LaFontaine said firefighters told him last week the alarms were activated during the deadly fire.
What remains unclear is whether financial concerns led the club owners to cut corners. The president of American Foam said the Derderians spent about $575 to buy the cheapest foam he had to offer, rather than spend about twice as much for the flame-retardant variety.
Documents in Family Court files detailing Michael Derderian's divorce from Heather Derderian, which was finalized last week, show that in June he sold stock to meet ''various margin calls as well as household expenses.'' Heather Derderian also asked the court to order her estranged husband to sell The Station to help her make ends meet. In court papers, she said he told her that ''the nightclub has been operating at a loss.'' Michael Derderian opposed the motion, which was denied.
Kathleen Hagerty, Michael Derderian's lawyer, has rejected the suggestion that the brothers were seeking the cheapest material to soundproof their club, saying that they purchased what the salesman from American Foam recommended. ''Let me say this: It was never doubted by the Derderians as a safe and legitimate material for soundproofing their nightclub,'' she said Friday.
Also unresolved is whether Michael and Jeffrey Derderian operated their club at the capacity legally allowed under state law, based on square footage.
Yesterday, Bauer, the town manager, could not say how many people were in The Station the night of the fire. The fire chief has said 300 people were permitted when pool tables were removed, as they would have been on nights for big entertainment, and the governor has said that about 350 were probably inside when the fire began. But Bauer said yesterday it was unclear whether the 300 capacity figure is accurate because of discrepancies in town records, which were not released yesterday.
The Globe previously reported that The Station's owners advertised the club's capacity at 550 in the US Talent Buyers guide, used by agents and management companies to book acts.
Once the Derderians took over, the town records show, they paid for firefighter details to be present on certain nights, but stopped requesting the details in April 2001 without any response from the town.
Jonathan Saltzman of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
First and foremost, when I learned about the Derderian brothers not even carrying Worker's Compensation insurance for their employees (when they were required to by law), it told me all I needed to know about them. The brothers did not care about anything but making money. They were not concerned with anyone but themselves. They probably made enough money in one week to pay the Worker's Comp premiums for a year.
The key phrase here is margin calls. Gambling blinds people completely to their responsibilities and ruins everyone's lives. Not looking good for Michael.
Ugh. Here comes the psychobabble...Michael, the diseased. Jeff the "enabler".
KNAC.COM Exclusive Interview: Illuminations of a Pyrotechnicrat
By Philthy Phil, Monday, February 24, 2003 @ 10:15 PM
More Pyro Discussion
Imagine watching KISS on stage without a major pyro display. You can almost feel the heat thinking about it. Now imagine seeing KISS in a nightclub with low ceilings and a capacity of 300. Never happen right?
Benny Doro has seen KISS play clubs…over 1500 times…so close he could touch the band members. That’s because he’s in the KISS tribute band, Hotter Than Hell.
As the discussion continues to flare-up over the fire in Rhode Island and who might be to blame, if anyone, I thought I would speak to someone who knows a thing or two about putting on pyrotechnic shows night after night in clubs across North America. If anyone would know, it’s Benny Doro.
Doro plays Paul Stanley in the tribute band that, according to Doro, is the only KISS tribute band officially sanctioned by KISS. I asked Doro to describe his stage show in the context of playing a nightclub the size of The Station in Rhode Island. “We carry one of the biggest pyro shows you can put in a club” Doro says, “flame towers, sparkle showers (like the ones Great White used), smoking guitars, flames, fire-breathing…all the good stuff.” Doro went on, “Any venue that will let us do it, or where it is safe to do it, we will use it. We gotta do it to make the show more spectacular, more true to life.”
With all that firepower, it begs the question; what is the typical experience with a club when you come to an agreement about your performance? “In general the club…they don’t ever require licenses” Doro says, “They just say, 'be sure to bring your pyro show' and that’s what we do.” Doro continued, “But we always bring a licensed Pyro technician with us.”
”Usually when we get to the venue” Doro explains, “The fire marshal is waiting for us. We demo what we plan to do and he tells us what we can and cannot do. We use whatever we’re allow to use, because believe me, that pyro is expensive. If we don’t have to use it, so be it. We’re saving money. It’s the music that carries the show anyway.
"It’s the club owners” Doro offers, “That want the pyro. One time we couldn’t take our pyro tech over the border into Canada for a couple of shows. It was just against Canadian law. The clubs insisted we do pyro and we told them we would have to cancel unless they hired a Canadian tech for us.”
Based on Doro’s experience, it seems a lot of clubs want pyro. But what about The Station, or even the New Jersey Club, the Stone Pony, whose owner, Mr. Santana was so happy to speak to the press and throw Great White into the inferno of public opinion? “We’ve played both clubs with pyro,” Doro says. “Both clubs are pretty lax in their rules.”
Doro told me there are plenty of clubs that flat out won’t allow pyro, and in his opinion, the club is responsible for the safety of the patrons as well as being sensitive to local rules and regulations. Breaking the wrong rules on the wrong night could certainly get a club shut down. Doro said, “If a band comes into town and wants to saw a pig in half on stage, that’s great, but it might be illegal in some states.”
I asked Doro to speak about what he felt might have happened in the Great White situation. He said, “I don’t believe Great White was going to blow off pyro if they were told not to...they wouldn’t get paid (bands typically get half their pay up front, and the other half is withheld if there is a breach of contract), and word would get out to other clubs, and it costs money to do pyro. They aren’t going to waste their money if they don’t have to.”
But Doro’s message about blame is measured. “From my side of the fence, I know what happens when I go into these clubs. It's the clubs that call the shots. If the club is prepared for pyro, then we do it. Sometimes bands roll in with two-bit pyro guys and they don’t really know what to do if there's a spark and things get out of control. A club owner’s responsibility is to keep the patrons safe, see what the band is going to do and approve or disapprove it, instead of letting a band roll right through. The band has a responsibility to check out the club as well. One time we played a club and said, ‘look at the dust on the ceiling, if any of our flames hit the ceiling, this place is going up in smoke’, so we say no flames, and the club owner says, ‘give me flames', and we say 'clean the ceilings’. A lot of clubs have years of cigarette tar and dust on the walls and the ceiling. We've had plenty of times when our pyro show caught light gels or curtains on fire, but then our guy is there to put it out. You have about 20 seconds to take care of the problem, and a pro knows what to do.”
But then, with one unguarded parting shot, Doro said this about club owners, “They just want to make sure they are packing people into the front door, sometimes at any cost. I really don’t think they (Great White) did anything on purpose or anything wrong. It’s going to be up to the investigation to find out what happens here. I just hope the club owners cooperate with the officials. Besides, there's got to be a lot of information out there, with the fans and the roadies about band after band after band that have blown pyro in that club.”
Hotter Than Hell is playing several dates in the Pacific Northwest this week and next. At least three of those clubs have called Doro to ask they do not use any pyro until things get figured out. Doro says, “This is just a tough thing to deal with. Hopefully we’ll all learn something from it. My heart goes out to anybody who has anything to with any of those people in that club.”
For more info about Hotter Than Hell, go to hotterthanhell.com.
*********************************************
Sure desn't look very convincing for the Derderians, that Great White 'snuck the pyro' in on them, eh?
Employees that died... Dina DiMaio...30 y.o., waitress, left behind a 7 y.o. son.
Andrea Mancini...28, worked the door collecting cash.
Steve Mancini...39, worked the door checking I.D.'s.
There IS another, but now I can't find the info.
BTW... there was a National Guardsman, and a Navy submarineer who also died that night. And the wife of a military member, who is in Afghanistan, died.
*************************************************
BTW, I DIDN'T say this....I once worked in a 'smutty' bar. The dancers and some floor workers signed a 'self-employed contract'. (Can't remember the 'proper' name) By signing that, they basically worked 'under the table' and THEY were responsible for deducting their OWN taxes. I'm not sure if that would include workman's comp. (it was in NY state)
Nearly 100 people were killed when fire destroyed the club the night of Feb. 20. News Channel 10 reported club co-owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian could face civil penalties as high as $1 million for failing to have the insurance.
Workers' compensation is required of any business in Rhode Island that has one or more employees, regardless of whether they are full or part time.
When a worker is hurt on the job, workers' compensation pays for approximately two-thirds of an employee's lost wages, all associated medical bills and money to help cope with any permanent disability like the loss of a limb or physical scarring.
If a worker is killed on the job, workers' compensation covers burial costs. If that worker has children, a benefit is paid to his or her dependents.
The state said Michael Derderian failed to contact the Division of Workers' Compensation by a Wednesday deadline. The agency has issued a complaint asking for an immediate response.
BTW...remember when you were thinking of how FAR the deep pockets could be traced? Jokingly God was mentioned? YUP, He 'could' be blamed. After all, He created the air that was needed to blow the glitter/glue on the walls. ANNNNND, He created the people who are involved in all this horror.
Will keep ya flagged on anything else I manage to dig up.
Club capacity, alarm requirement examined
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff, 3/5/2003
EST WARWICK, R.I. -- The state fire marshal said yesterday that investigators are taking another look at the wreckage of The Station to see whether the nightclub was correctly classified as a Class C business. Such classifications, based partly on the size of each venue, determine the legal capacity and the alarm system required by the state fire code.
As a Class C building, The Station had a maximum capacity of 300 and was required to have a local fire alarm that activated only inside the club to warn occupants to leave, said Irving Owens, the fire marshal. Documents released by West Warwick town officials showed that New England Custom Alarms of North Kingstown installed such a system at a cost of $2,500 shortly before Jeffrey and Michael Derderian took over the club in 2000.
However, a former sound coordinator of The Station said the building sometimes held as many as 400 patrons. And the December 2002 edition of the Pollstar Talent Buyer Directory, a national guide for booking agents for which the club's owners provided information, listed capacity at 550.
If the building's capacity was greater than 300, it might have needed to be reclassified as a Class B venue, said Owens. Such venues are required to have a ''supervised'' alarm system that automatically notifies the local fire department in addition to sounding inside the nightclub.
John Peiczarek, the West Warwick Fire Department's director of communications, who inspected the nightclub five months after it installed highly flammable polyurethane foam in June 2000, said yesterday he could not discuss why he did not note the soundproofing material in his inspection report. The document was among the records released by the town on Monday.
Last night, the West Warwick Town Council met in executive session before the regular meeting, the first since the fire. Councilors did not discuss lawsuits during the public portion of the meeting, which drew several dozen people and a contingent of reporters, along with five television cameras.
Also yesterday, a grand jury investigating the fire resumed its inquiry at a Rhode Island National Guard complex in East Greenwich. Two band members were seen leaving the compound. And a spokesman for the state Department of Labor and Training, Workers Compensation Division, said there was no evidence that the Derderian brothers reported their policies to the state since they took over the club in March 2000. The state gave the business a deadline of today to file.
Meanwhile, autopsies scheduled to be released today by the Massachusetts chief medical examiner show that the two nightclub fire victims who died at Massachusetts General Hospital both succumbed to injuries related to smoke inhalation, the medical examiner's office said yesterday. The official cause of death listed for Linda Suffoletto and Kelly Vieira is thermal injury, a common finding in the deaths of fire victims.
For people who survive a fire but are gravely injured, the greatest threat to survival in the following days is respiratory failure. The lungs and other parts of the respiratory system are often so badly singed that they cannot function properly and, eventually, stop working altogether. Suffoletto survived for a week, dying Friday. Vieira died Saturday.
Stephanie Ebbert and Stephen Smith of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
This story ran on page B6 of the Boston Globe on 3/5/2003.
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff, 3/6/2003
EST WARWICK, R.I. - Soon after buying The Station, the owners offered to give an air conditioner to a neighbor who complained about noise from the nightclub, court documents say, and that neighbor subsequently told the Derderian brothers they could buy from his employer the inexpensive foam that ignited on the night of the deadly fire.
The neighbor, Barry Warner, was working at American Foam Corp. of Johnston, R.I., when Jeffrey and Michael Derderian purchased the club in March 2000. The packaging foam the brothers bought from American Foam and placed on The Station's walls is a key part of the investigation into the fire that raced through the club Feb. 20, killing 98 people.
The police affidavits recounting the dealings between Warner and the Derderians are among documents released in support of search warrants for, among others, the ruins of the club, American Foam, and the bus carrying Great White, the rock band performing when the fire began. Records about Warner and his relationship with American Foam, where he no longer works, also were sought.
The dozens of items seized, the papers say, range from a safe and a metal box with pyrotechnics from the club, to fax sheets for a ''pyro order'' from the band's bus.
Yesterday, Warner disputed the version presented in the police documents. ''There are a lot of things, in general, that are inaccurate about the whole story,'' Warner said. ''The media is trying to make headlines.''
He declined further comment.
As a grand jury investigates the fire, legal troubles for the Derderians are continuing to mount. The state Department of Labor and Training said the brothers failed to meet a deadline yesterday to prove they paid for workers compensation insurance after they bought the club.
Matt Carey, assistant director of the department's Workers Compensation Division, said his office has no evidence the Derderians paid to insure their employees and has lodged a formal complaint. If the state confirms at an administrative hearing that the club never paid the insurance premiums, the owners could be fined $500 to $1,000 for each day they broke the law.
(snip) Warner told investigators that he ''suffered for a prolonged period of time'' from the sound of bands playing at the nightclub, West Warwick Detective Roland J. Coutu said in an affidavit. Shortly after the Derderians bought the club, one of them approached Warner and offered to buy him an air conditioner, the affidavit said. In a follow-up conversation, it said, Warner told one or both brothers that he worked as a salesman at American Foam and that the club owners could buy packaging foam and use it to absorb the sound.
In his interview with investigators, Warner said he was a salaried employee at American Foam, which he left several months ago, and received a ''small commission'' from sales. He could not recall if ''he generated the sale'' to the Derderians, Coutu said. A lawyer for Michael Derderian said the club spent about $575 on the foam.
Warner also told investigators the Derderians later had him over to the club to see the foam on the walls, said Coutu, who described the material as ''highly combustible.'' Lawyers for the Derderians said the club owners had no idea the foam was extremely flammable. Town fire and building inspectors did not make note of the foam during inspections over the past three years.
Warner now works for Flock Tex, a Woonsocket, R.I., company that makes packaging material for jewelry boxes, pen boxes, and other products. ''He's a hell of a guy,'' said Brian Abramek, general manager of the family-owned business. ''He's honest, a great family man, and hard-working.''
The affidavits also identified the apparent manufacturer of the foam used by The Station, General Foam, but the status of the company was unclear. General Foam is based in Paramus, N.J., according to its website, but no one responded to calls to the telephone number listed. Officials at PMC Global Industries, a Sun Valley, Calif., holding company, confirmed that it used to own General Foam, but sold it a few years ago. Foamex, a Linwood, Pa., producer of cushioning, bought some assets of General Foam in July 2001, a company spokeswoman said, but ''there is no indication that Foamex manufactured any of the foam used in the nightclub.''
With fire-related lawsuits expected to flood the courts, the presiding justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court, Joseph J. Rodgers Jr., yesterday took the unusual step of assigning an associate justice, Alice Bridget Gibney, to oversee the complaints as they come in. Gibney presided over a trial involving people who sued the asbestos industry.
On Tuesday, a Fall River lawyer, Brian Cunha, filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of two of the 98 people who perished in the fire. The lawyer said he will seek at least $1 million in compensatory and punitive damages for the relatives of each victim.
The lawsuit named 14 defendants, including the nightclub, the band whose pyrotechnics sparked the blaze, and the town. Legal specialists have predicted that lawsuits stemming from the fire could ultimately seek as much as $1 billion in damages.
(snip) Stephanie Ebbert and Christopher Rowland of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 3/6/2003.
03/04/2003
BY TOM MOONEY, ZACHARY R. MIDER and TRACY BRETON Journal Staff Writers
WEST WARWICK -- Town inspectors cited as a fire hazard the same broken door at The Station in each of the last three years.
The revelation, coming yesterday with the release of town records, seemed to raise more questions about how rigorous inspections were at the nightclub.
Asked to explain how the vestibule door near the stage could have been cited repeatedly, Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said: "Somebody must have taken the door out to satisfy the inspection results and then somebody must have went through some effort to put the door back in."
The records also showed that inspectors had failed in those three years to make note of the highly flammable packing foam that club owners had installed around the stage as soundproofing.
That foam ignited Feb. 20 when the rock band Great White launched into its first song with a display of pyrotechnics. Within minutes the wooden building, which had no sprinklers, became a crucible of death. Ninety-eight people died in the ensuing fire and 187 were injured.
THE HISTORY of the club's broken door, while playing no known role in the loss of life, seemed to call into question what inspectors did and did not see inside The Station during their visits.
On a Nov. 21, 2000, visit, West Warwick inspector John A. Peiczarek noted among the club's deficiencies that the "door near stage needs repairs."
A year later, on Nov. 10, 2001, West Warwick fire inspector Denis Larocque included in his list of fire hazards needing repair: "door near stage."
And then again, on Nov. 20, 2002, Larocque listed in his remarks: "Exit door swings wrong direction [stage door] . . . panic hardware broken [same door]."
In both of Larocque's reports, an "OK" was written next to the violation, presumably indicating the problem was later corrected.
The reports provide spaces to note the dates of the first inspection and then the follow-up reinspection. But while the initial dates are noted in Larocque's reports, the space for the reinspection dates reads only: "call when corrected" or "call when ready."
Based on those reports, it was unclear whether Larocque ever visited the club a second time to verify that violations had been corrected or merely relied on the word of the club owners, brothers Michael and Jeffrey Derderian.
Bauer said that Larocque and Building Official Stephen D. Murray visited the club once together last year and each made at least one separate visit.
CONCERNING THE club's use of highly flammable polyurethane foam and its omission from town inspection reports, Bauer said: "We didn't see it because we either missed it or it wasn't there."
Bauer speculated last week that the Derderians might have removed the foam to skirt detection.
The Derderians' lawyers, Kathleen M. Hagerty and Jeffrey Pine, did not return telephone calls left at their offices yesterday. But last week Hagerty denied any allegation that the Derderians had removed the foam prior to the inspections.
"It clearly has been there for some time and was there when inspected by both building and fire inspectors," she said.
The records released yesterday also show that other fire hazards were repeatedly cited over the last three years, including exit signs not illuminating and fire extinguishers needing service or not properly hung.
"It just bothers me to see repetitive kinds of problems on the inspection reports," Bauer said.
"The purpose of the fire marshal and building inspector is to educate people on how to take care of those kinds of fire-related concerns. I mean, the reason people want doors to open outward is so people can get out of them."
• Fire inspection reports for the last three years • Feb. 18, 2000 letter from West Warwick fire chief • May 12, 2000 memo from West Warwick police chief THE RECORDS also show that town officials raised safety concerns with the club prior to the Derderians taking ownership in March 2000.
In a Feb. 18, 2000, letter to the Town Council, then fire chief Richard J. Rita asked the board to consider his "grave concern" regarding the club's overcrowding before issuing a new liquor license. And parking congestion, he said, on busy nights made it "virtually impossible" to drive a fire truck down adjacent Kulas Road.
Further, "There are a number of violations that must be corrected," Rita said before the Derderians could open up their new business.
"We must," Rita said, " . . . have the full cooperation of these businesses to maintain a safe environment for all patrons as well as neighbors of these businesses."
A month later, in March 2000, the Derderians purchased The Station nightclub. Soon they were hearing complaints from neighbors about noise.
In a memo written in May of that year, Police Chief Peter T. Brousseau noted he spoke with Michael Derderian and "strongly advised that his entertainment license would not be approved unless he corrects the noise problems."
The memo says Derderian planned to speak to neighbors about the problem.
A month later, on June 27, 2000, a Johnston foam company delivered to the club 540 square feet of common, egg-crate packing foam.
The 25 sheets of foam, each charcoal in color and 2 1/2 inches thick, was not fire-retardant. It cost half as much as fire-retardant foam, which the Derderians could have also bought from American Foam Corp., foam company owner Aram DerManouelian said last week.
Hagerty, Michael Derderian's lawyer, said last week that the idea of the foam orginated from a club neighbor who worked as a salesman for American Foam Corp. It was the neighbor, she said, who went about ordering it for the Derderian brothers.
But that neighbor, Barry H. Warner, refuted that account in an interview with the Associated Press. He said the Derderians approached him after learning he worked for American Foam. The brothers wanted the cheapest foam, Warner was quoted as saying, and safety issues weren't discussed.
Warner could not be reached at his home on Kulas Road yesterday afternoon.
The "Rhode Island Fire Laws and Rules" require that any "decorative and acoustical material" be flame resistant.
The rules also require such material to be flame-tested with a simple wooden match. How fast and for how long the material burns determines the material's flame retardancy.
However "materials which break and drip flaming particles shall be rejected if the materials continue to burn after they reach the floor."
Many survivors of The Station nightclub told of a black burning goo falling on their heads and backs, searing their skin.
No warnings or violations were ever given, says a former member of the band that performed at The Station nightclub.
03/06/2003
BY TOM MOONEY and MARK ARSENAULT Journal Staff Writers
On April 27, 2000, the band Lovin' Kry performed at The Station and, without the required permits, set off pyrotechnics similar to those used by the band Great White two weeks ago.
Among the spectators, a former band member said last night and town records show, were two West Warwick firefighters working a crowd detail.
But the firefighters never cited the band for any violation after the show.
"I remember actually shaking hands with the firemen," former band member Rev Tyler, of Methuen, Mass., said. "They said, 'Nice show, good stuff' something to that effect. There was never any mention that you should not blow that stuff off."
Tyler said the singer of the band, David Vaccaro, actually became concerned when the firefighters approached them after their performance and wanted to see the types of pyrotechnics they had used.
"He said, 'Uh-oh, the firemen want to talk to us about our stuff.' But when nothing happened, it just reaffirmed to us that everything we're doing is OK."
Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said yesterday club owners had requested the firefighter detail because they were expecting a large crowd.
"I'm interested in what happened," Bauer said, "but we're using solely their [the band member's] information, and what kinds of things happened at that club that night we'll just have to let the investigators find out."
No member of the band had either the required state competency certificate for handling pyrotechnics or a permit from West Warwick for the pyrotechnics.
And it's possible, Bauer said, the firefighters working the detail were unfamiliar with regulations pertaining to pyrotechnics.
"We now know after the fact that permits are required," said Bauer. "Whether each firefighter who works in every fire department in Rhode Island knows every regulation, that's a different question."
In general, club owners request a fire detail if they're expecting a large crowd, said Bauer. Their duty is to make sure access to doors is not blocked and that the crowd doesn't exceed occupancy limits.
Current state law does not, however, require a firefighter to be on hand simply to supervise the use of pyrotechnics, said William R. Guglietta.
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BTW....further along in this article, it states that there were FIVE employees who died in the fire.
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