GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- Experts investigating The Station nightclub fire that
killed 100 people said today that new legislation may be needed to gather
critical evidence in the case.
Investigators with the
federal National Institute of Standards and Technology are probing
the Feb. 20 fire at the West Warwick, R.I., club in order to make
recommendations for improvements to fire and building codes.
At a meeting with an advisory panel today, some complained investigators
were being delayed because prosecutors, including Rhode Island Atty.
Gen. Patrick C. Lynch, and civil lawyers were denying them access to
critical information.
In particular, they have been unable to get the exact makeup of the foam
used as soundproofing that burst into flames at the nightclub. They have
also said they have been denied access to hundreds of items gathered
from the club scene and stored in a warehouse.
The blaze was sparked by a band's pyrotechnic display. In addition to
the deaths, about 200 people were injured as the fire roared quickly
through the wooden structure.
Lead investigator Bill Grosshandler said his team has gathered only
about 20 percent of the information on the makeup of different materials
in the building, but also said it was still early in the fact-gathering
process.
NIST is creating a computer reconstruction of the fire to simulate the
spread of flames and smoke through the club.
Others, including Jack Snell, director of the NIST Building and Fire
Research Laboratory, seemed frustrated with the agency's access to
information. The investigation is being conducted under an act of
Congress passed last year aimed at using NIST expertise to probe
building disasters.
"The whole motivation for this law was timely investigations," said
Snell. "We're not doing timely investigations."
Some, including National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee
chairman Paul Fitzgerald, suggested the agency should ask Congress for
new legislation to give them better access to key evidence. The results
of NIST's investigations cannot be used in litigation, but some involved
in the case have been reluctant to share information with the agency,
which is part of the Commerce Department.
The NCST Act, passed in the wake of the collapse of the World Trade
Center in New York City, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack, gave
the NIST the authority to establish teams to investigate building
failures.
Issues similar to those voiced today have arisen in its probe of the
World Trade Center collapse.
Advisory committee member Glenn P. Corbett, professor of public
management-fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New
York, said he's concerned about the obstacles to getting such jobs done
that are already being faced by the fledgling agency and the potential
for more in the future.
After the hearing, Grosshandler said that the slowed access has not yet
affected their work. He said the end result will be "an independent
investigation that will be meaningful and worthwhile."
-- With reports from John E. Mulligan of The Journal's Washington
bureau
