Digital Bulletin

PROVIDENCE -- Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch today began making public evidence that was collected as part of The Station nightclub fire investigation. And there's more to come.

Today's release of 3,000 or so documents comes in response to a Providence Journal public records request for the material. It also is part of a pledge Lynch made to relatives of the 100 people who died in the 2003 fire that he would let the public see the evidence. Lynch told the relatives he hoped the evidence would help answer lingering questions about the West Warwick nightclub and the fire that destroyed it.

Michael Healey, a spokesman for Lynch, said today that the attorney general regrets not being able to give victims' families advance notice of the release, but that his office was obligated to respond to the media's public records' request.

The material released today includes more than 3,000 pages of documents from the town of West Warwick and from the home office of Station co-owner Michael A. Derderian, but Healey said it represents "just a downpayment" of the total evidence to be released in association with The Station fire case.

Three people were charged with involuntary manslaughter for the fire: Derderian, 45, and his brother, Jeffrey A. Derderian, 40, the other owner of the nightclub, and Daniel M. Biechele, 30, the Great White rock band tour manager who triggered fireworks on stage that started the blaze. All three entered pleas to the charges.

Among the documents released for the first time today were statements by the West Warwick fire marshal at the time of the fire, Denis Patrick Larocque.

Laroque's witness statement

In a Feb. 25, 2003, interview with the state police, five days after the fire, Larocque said he was so focused on an exit door to the right of the stage that violated state code that he did not notice any foam around the stage area when he inspected the nightclub three months before.

The door, which opened inward, had been corrected by the club at least twice before, Larocque said. After the previous year’s inspection, the club had removed the door to meet state code, the fire marshal said in his witness statement to the state police and the deputy state fire marshal.

The Derderians had installed highly flammable polyurethane foam on the walls of the club as soundproofing after neighbors complained about noise. On the night of the fire, the foam produced deadly fumes and helped the fire spread rapidly through the club, killing 100 people and injured about 200 others.

“I really got upset that someone would reinstall something that we had already cited them for,” Larocque told State Police Det. Sgt. Brian K. Casilli and Deputy State Fire Marshal Robert Mowry. “ … My next stop was right back to the front of, well to the bar to speak with the bartender about who reinstalled the door.”

The last time Larocque said he inspected The Station prior to the fire was on Nov. 20, 2002, at which point he found nine technical violations, “a lot of the same violations” from the inspection the previous year.

In addition to the inward-opening door, those violations included a broken panic bar on an exit door near the stage, fire extinguishers that weren’t mounted and/or needed service, and an open can of gasoline in the basement.

Larocque said it appeared as if the club owners were trying to limit noise to the neighbors with that second door by the stage, the one that opened inward.

Larocque said he did not know if any permits were ever given to The Station nightclub for pyrotechnics, which sparked the fire. He said he never issued permits for indoor fireworks displays or pyrotechnics and his department didn’t even have a form to issue a permit for such items. To his knowledge, no clubs in the city had ever applied for such permits, he said.

He was asked whether there had been complaints from citizens about overcrowding.

“We haven’t had any complaints that I can recall about any overcrowding or any type of complaints, complaints of that nature,” he said.

Larocque described himself a “one-man fire prevention office” within the West Warwick Fire Department.

“I do the plan review, I do the inspections, I do the investigations and I do the public education,” he said.

Larocque said a club such as The Station would have been inspected once a year by police and fire crews, as its liquor license needed to be renewed each year and relied on “satisfactory inspections.”

An 'issue' with exit door

Two club employees told investigators after the deadly fire that they knew there was an “issue” with the exit door that opened inward.

Nevertheless, on the night of the fire, the door was in place, without a doorknob. To open the door, people had to put their fingers in a small hole where the knob had been, according to documents released today.

The exit door was in place to suppress noise, the employees told inspectors, West Warwick Police Det. Sgt. Keith C. Azverde wrote in an affidavit in support of a search warrant.

West Warwick Building Inspector Steve Murray told investigators, according to Azverde’s affidavit, that The Station had been “previously admonished for having an unlawful door on the exit door located to the right of the stage.”

“He stated that this door was a violation of code because it opened inward and was covered with acoustic foam,” Azverde wrote about Murray. “They [the nightclub owners] had been told to remove this door. It was his understanding that this door had been removed. Interviews with patrons and employees along with the physical inspection of the fire scene has conclusively established that this door was in place at the time of the fire, had no door knob, swung inward, was covered with acoustic foam and had to be opened by placing fingers in the small hole where the knob used to be.”

Azverde also noted that the state police sought a search warrant of club owner Michael Derderian’s Narragansett home shortly after the fire.

The plan to use pyrotechnics

The same affidavit confirms for the first time that at least one employee of The Station knew of the band's plan to use pyrotechnics as part of its show.

A part-time nightclub employee, David Stone, told authorities that prior to the show he met with the band's floor manager whom he knew as Dan (later confirmed to be Daniel Biechele).

"During this meeting Dan told David Stone that he would be using pyrotechnics which he described as 'gerbs,'" reads the affadavit signed by Azverde. "'Dan' stated that he then wanted the stage to go dark when the gerbs would light briefly. He was told that after the gerbs went out he should use his discretion in what sort of light show he wanted to do."

"Mr. Stone stated that he followed the instructions of Dan and the gerbs ignited as stated. He said that they were large and lasted longer than he expected. He stated they ignited the acoustic foam and that he pulled the fire alarm and exited the building through the kitchen exit."

The Derderians have consistently denied knowledge of the band's plan to use pyrotechnics.

More to come

Lynch has said he would release more evidence in the coming weeks, as soon as staff lawyers review it to determine that making it public would not violate the law. He also has petitioned the Superior Court for permission to give out transcripts of secret grand jury testimony that resulted in the charges against Biechele and the Derderians.

A spokesman for Lynche said this afternoon that the documents released today represent "just a downpayment" of the total evidence to be released in association with The Station fire case.

"The attorney general made a pledge to make as much of the evidence and other information about The Station fire available as quickly as possible. Today’s release really represents just a downpayment,” spokesman Michael Healey said.

“We’re putting the documents out there for public consumption. We’re not offering our interpretation of their relative importance or lack thereof. People are going to have to make up their own minds. We would respectfully urge people to wait until everything that can be made public is made public before forming their opinions.”

Healey said that the next installment of evidence released will consist largely of videos of bands that had played at The Station or amateur footage shot the night of the fire. The videos would fill 50 to 60 DVDs. They are expected to be released next week or the week after.

People who want to request a free copy of the CD-ROM of documents released today may call 410-274-4400, ext. 2328. The attorney general has not determined how to distribute the videos to the general public.