Digital Extra: The Station Fire

06:45 PM EST on Friday, February 18, 2005

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE -- Attorneys for Station nightclub fire defendants Michael and Jeffrey Derderian will get a 40-square-inch piece of the foam found at the site of the deadly blaze to conduct testing.

Sheets of foam placed on the walls and ceiling as soundproofing have been blamed for rapidly spreading the fire throughout the West Warwick club on Feb. 20, 2003, killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.

The Derderians and Daniel Biechele, the former tour manager for the band Great White, whose pyrotechnics sparked the blaze, are each charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fire.

Following a pretrial conference today, Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan said in addition to the foam that will go to the Derderians' lawyers, another portion will go to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives so they can conduct chemical testing at Biechele's request.

Eighty-two square feet of foam were retrieved from the fire site.