One-hundred people died from a fast-spreading fire started by pyrotechnics set off during a rock band's opening song inside The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, on February 20, 2003. Three people, including the venue's two owners, were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Nine years later, the property was donated for the construction of a permanent memorial. On May 21, 2017, the
Station Fire Memorial Park was opened to the public -- "The purpose of the park is to provide a place of solace, peace and remembrance to all the victims as well as the survivors and their families."
Timeline: 1947 - 2000
The tragedy resulted from a series of unfortunate events and, arguably, extremely poor decisions and lax oversight going back decades. The building originally opened as a restaurant in 1947. After changing ownership twice, it was granted a capacity of 50 patrons in 1970. Four years later it was sold again and the Fire Marshal set the seating capacity at 161. In 1982 the capacity was raised to 225. It changed ownership and names twice more - in 1985 and 1993 - as the business becomes a bar and nightclub. In December 1999, the Fire Marshal set maximum capacity of the club at 258 people with tables and 317 without tables. When brothers Michael and Jeffery Derderian took over the business in March 2000, West Warwick Fire Marshal Denis Larocque raised the capacity to 401 standing patrons. The size of the single-story, wood frame building remained basically unchanged over those 53 years.
The previous owner added polyethylene foam at the stage around the drummer's alcove for soundproofing in 1995. The latest owners added 25 sheets of polyurethane packaging to the walls and ceiling for more soundproofing in June 2000.
February 20, 2003
The headliner band, Great White, took the stage just after 11:00PM.
At 11:07, a set of four gerbs, cylindrical devices that produce a controlled spray of sparks, ignited the flammable acoustic foam on the walls and ceilings surrounding the stage within 18 seconds.
A flame two feet high was noticed by people close to the stage after 20 seconds and fire quickly spread along the ceiling above the dance floor.
At 37 seconds after the gerbs were set off: a stampede.
A little more than a minute later, because the club did not have sprinklers or adequate exit plans, 95 people were unable to escape; 58 were caught in the crush at the narrow main entrance passage.
Around 90 seconds after the fire started they were overcome by lack of oxygen, toxic gases, and a flashover, a heat-driven phenomenon causing the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible material in the enclosed space.
Within minutes the entire structure was engulfed in flames.
Firefighters arrived on scene five minutes after the fire started, their water directed to the the main entrance six minutes into the catastrophe.
At 11:58PM Kent County Hospital had filled to capacity and other casualties were sent to Rhode Island Hospital Trauma Center.
Responders fought the fire for 90 minutes.
At 12:37AM: "Command to Fire Alarm – notify chaplain; cancel additional rescues; cancel LifeFlight helicopter".
Over the next ten weeks, five more people died from their injuries.
Exceeding capacity by more than 50, there were 462 people in the building which hadn't significantly changed size since 1947; 100 were killed, 230 injured, and 132 escaped uninjured. It was the fouth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.
Criminal Trials
The band's manager, who placed and set off the pyrotechnics, claimed he had permission from the owners, brothers Michael and Jeffery Derderian. Three months before he was set to go to trial, and against the advice of his attorneys, the remorseful band manager pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter "in what he said was an effort to 'bring peace, I want this to be over with.'" He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, with four to serve and eleven years suspended, plus three years' probation, for his role in the fire. He was released in March 2008. (Source: Wikipedia)
In a cruel twist of irony, owner Jeff Derderian, also a reporter for WPRI, a local Providence, Rhode Island, television station, was to present a story about nightclub safety following a stampede at an overcrowded Chicago club three days earlier. A co-worker camerman was in the club to get footage for the story. His footage of the fire shows its ignition, growth, the thick smoke that made escape impossible, and blocked doorways that prevented safe exit.
The brothers were scheduled for separate trials, but changed their pleas from "not guilty" to "no contest" on September 21, 2006. Michael Derderian received fifteen years in prison, with four to serve and eleven years suspended, plus three years' probation. In January 2008, the Parole Board decided to grant him an early release; he was scheduled to be released from prison in September 2009, but was granted his release in June 2009 for good behavior. Jeffrey Derderian received 500 hours of community service. (Source: Wikipedia)
Memorial
Now the Station Fire Memorial Park is located at 211 Cowesett Avenue on the corner of Kulas Road. A parking area fills the north third of the property. A monumental stone archway leads to a central walkway paved with red bricks. Gently rolling gardens with meandering paths are to its east and west. Six circular nodes along both side paths feature a round bench surrounded by polished granite markers, one for each person who perished. Dedication plaques and memorial benches are spread throughout the park. A pavilion with stone pillars is at the uppermost center space - at the property's south boundary where The Station Nightclub building stood. Open on three sides, its back wall contains a display - a timeline of events from 1947, through the decades, then minute-by-minute on the night of the tragedy, and finally, the years following.
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