A federal agency that investigates building failures has developed a plan to examine the Feb. 20 blaze at The Station nightclub, which will include a computer simulation of the fire.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, based in Maryland, has taken its first steps toward determining what happened at The Station and how changes in building design could help prevent similar tragedies. The West Warwick blaze claimed 100 lives.
Agency spokesman Michael E. Newman said yesterday that investigators have started developing a computer model that will mimic the spread of fire through the crowded nightclub. "We're putting the framework of the computer model together," said Newman. "It's pretty rudimentary at this point."
The agency's software will create a digital model of the building that will allow investigators not only to see what happened on Feb. 20, but to run simulations of how the outcome might have changed under different conditions, such as if the nightclub had had fire sprinklers or if it had not had flammable foam on its walls.
Fireworks that punctuated the entrance of the band Great White showered sparks on the foam, which had been installed as soundproofing to appease neighbors of the rock club. Instead, it kindled the blaze that quickly spread flames and dark, toxic smoke throughout the building.
Newman said yesterday that the federal agency, which has also looked into the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, has not set a deadline for completing its investigation of The Station fire, adding, "We don't expect to take two years like the World Trade Center."
The agency needs to keep its timetable flexible because federal law gives deference to state and local criminal investigations. Some of the data the federal investigators need may be tied up in the Rhode Island attorney general's probe of the fire. "We'd rather wait until we can have that information," Newman said.
Besides examining the way the fire affected the building, the federal agency will look at how emergency personnel responded and whether firefighting procedures should be changed.
Private agencies will also be contracted to help in the investigation. Said Newman: "It's not far under way, but it's under way."
