The Station Nightclub Fire

 

Earlier this year I read the book Killer Show by John Barylick. It was written in 2015 about The Station nightclub fire. I had heard about the story but almost in passing. It was not something that I had gone great lengths to look into. In fact, it was not until I was reading the book that I realized or even saw that there was a video taken at the time of the fire. Maybe it was because while in high school I was only moderately into the rock group Great White. Like a lot of teenagers in the mid to late 1980's I owned their album Twice Shy with really the only song I can truthfully say I liked or even remembered by them (Once Bitten, Twice Shy). To me they were little more than a one hit wonder band although presumably they had at least some followers.

Over the next several decades the lead singer, Jack Russell, had attempted to “revamp” the group. He recruited musicians, some who played in the original group; some who did not. They began touring the country but this was not an ordinary tour. The gigs were at “hole in the wall” nightclubs that would cater to those looking back on their youth for the most part. This band was not playing at stadiums and packing them in. They were working for “pennies” so to speak and really just for the recognition. Many of the tour stops were promoted by radio stations and distributors such as like in this case, Anheuser-Busch. Russell wanted all the flash of a big stadium concert. His tour manager was a young man named Daniel Biechele.

Daniel Biechele's job was to make sure that all the “little things” the band members wanted, such as favorite foods and such were available. His job was also to get permission from the nightclubs for certain things such as allowing pyrotechnics. This issue became something of contention later. The owners of The Station in West Warwick Rhode Island would later say that they were not asked about pyrotechnics and claim they would have not allowed them if they had been asked. Of course this statement was made AFTER a tragedy. After the fire many of the nightclubs the band had played at previously were contacted. At least one claimed that they were not approached about the pyrotechnics and the band had shot them off but I do question those because just a few days prior to the Rhode Island concert they had played where I currently live. The owner of the nightclub here was interview and stated that he was approached about the pyrotechnics and he had told the band no and he claimed that neither the band, nor Biechele took issue with it and things were fine. This is important because the theory was that Biechele and/or the band purposely did not ask permission from nightclubs so that they could not be told no and they could give the performance they wanted. There seemed to be nothing to this theory. But, as you will see, this case is full nothing if not people passing the buck.

The Station, the name in 2003, was a building that was built in West Warwick in 1946. For many years it had been a restaurant in the area but at some point it was changed into a nightclub. The building itself was owned by a man for many decades but he leased it out to others and so through the years there were a few different people running the nightclub under one name or another. “Owners” (those that ran the clubs) had a lot of issues, one of which came from the residents around the club. The club was all but smack dab in a residential area, or at least the backside of the club met up with a residential neighborhood. Those who ran the club had been met with resistance from the neighbors because of all of the noise, especially on the nights that live bands performed. The stage was in the back of the building, the side that was against the residential homes, with a door to the outside just next to the stage. The man who ran the club, it is unclear if it was another name, before brothers, Jeff and Michael Derderian bought the club in March of 2000, had made attempts to “sound proof” the walls. The first guy had used a urethane based foam on the walls, particularly around the stage area. Considering he did not run the nightclub in 2003, when the fire occurred there is less information about what he knew about the foam he placed, or if, possibly out of fear of being held responsible for something, just “played dumb.” At any rate the foam the previous owner put in did not end the complaints.

One of the main people who complained about the noise was said to talk to the Derderian's after they took over and told them about a place called American Foam Corporation. There seemed to be some talk that the man had a stake in the company of some sort but that is unclear. At any rate the Derderian's bought some foam from the company that was polyethylene based. This was placed on top of the existing foam around the stage and other areas. By most accounts much of the building was covered in this foam. Now, it has been said that this foam was being labeled as “acoustic foam” and the purpose was for sound proofing, which is what the Derderian's were looking for apparently. The Derderian's claimed that they asked or were told (it is unclear) that the foam was fire resistant. In the end I am unsure that regardless of the type of foam, or how much there was, if it fixed the noise issue.

By the time of the fire on February 20, 2003 the Derderian's were looking to sell as they were losing money hand over fist. In fact, they had a buyer ready and it was just a matter of getting the paperwork together and signed. Both of the Derderian's also had full time jobs in addition to running the club. Jeff Derderian was a reporter at a local news station and pretty well known in the community. In the months leading up to that February night Jeff had done some things on the news about nightclub safety. And, just three days before that night there had been an incident in a nightclub in Chicago. There had been a stampede and twenty-one people died with another fifty injured. It was said that Jeff saw this as an opportunity to create another segment about nightclub safety and it was to be filmed on the night of the Great White concert. But, lets be fair, I am sure there was also the idea of getting The Station some publicity.

As with the case with any business they were subjected to inspections over the years. Fire inspectors were expected to check things such as doors and exits and they are in charge of setting the capacity of a building. Many of these things have come “under fire” … no pun intended... over the years when it came to The Station. There was an issue with the fire inspector and the Derderian's concerning a door that they had previously closed off in a way that they were required to fix but the inspector never stated anything about the foam on the walls, the fact there was not a sprinkler system (which I will get into in a bit), and there were questions about how he came up with the numbers for capacity in the building.

Let me start with the foam on the walls and the ceiling. It was alleged later that the fire inspector had not “noticed” it. By 2003 there had been some sort of foam on the walls for several years. As far as the capacity of the building it was alleged that it kept getting raised, sometimes with conditions, such as tables being moved out, and sometimes not. The capacity of the building at the time of the fire continues to be an issue more than 18 years after the fire. By most accounts it has been said that there were 462 people in the building when the fire started. Also, by most accounts it was said that the legal capacity given by the fire inspector was 404.

In 2020 a man named Scott James, who apparently lived somewhere near the area and says he spent ten years researching this case, published a book called Trial By Fire. Now, I will be fair in saying that I have not read this book. It has been said to be “more” accurate than prior books and articles on the case, but I also must say that the Derderian's were some of the ones that made this statement. In essence from my understanding the book focuses on the fact that put less culpability on the Derderian's and more on government officials and pretty much everyone else. As we get into the area of who was held responsible for what happened on that horrible night you may end up like myself, and believe that there was plenty of blame to go around and much more should have been dished out, as James, claims in his book. But, in the same respect from the excerpts it seems that he not only claims that the club was not over capacity, but far, far under. It appears that his book claims there were just over 300 people, not 462 inside the building.

Then there is the issue of the sprinkler system which is still in contention as to whether The Station was required by law to have one or not. Some things will say that because of the age of the building they were “grandfathered” in and basically were not required by law to have a sprinkler system. Then there are things that say this was not technically true and that when the building changed from a restaurant to a nightclub it made the “grandfather clause” basically null and void. It would seem that the fire inspector would have known the rules pertaining to this but as with a lot of things in this case the answer is not clear. It is my opinion that this all goes hand in hand with people attempting to avoid having any responsibility to what happened.

But, here I am four pages in and we are just now to the point of discussing what fully happened on February 20, 2003. Just after 10:00 on that evening the band began to play. As the first song began four pyrotechnics, called gerbs were lit. They were set to basically spray out sparks fifteen feet high for fifteen seconds. Two of the gerbs were in the middle and they faced straight up. The other two were angled at 45 degrees towards the stage. Daniel Biechele was the one who lit them and the fact that he apparently did not have training or a license to do so was also brought up later. Within seconds the sparks from the gerbs landed on the foam covered walls.

The polyethylene foam that was on top was technically more difficult to ignite but once it did it would release not only an extreme amount of heat but more importantly it emits a dark smoke that contains carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide gas. Inhaling these gases, even in very small doses can very quickly cause one to lose consciousness. In addition to this the urethane foam that was under the polyethylene foam was highly flammable and caught fire soon after.

Concert goers lost precious time because initially when the fire started they did not realize what was going on and thought that it was part of the show. A few like Daniel Biechele and the emcee of the show, Mike “The Doctor” Gonsalves, from a local radio station did realize what happened and attempted to find something to put the fire out but still those in the audience, and even band members did not know really what was going on.

Twenty seconds after the gerbs stopped the band finally stopped playing. Lead singer, Jack Russell, “calmly remarked into the microphone 'Wow...that's not good.'” Thirty seconds may not sound like a lot of time, but it was a lifetime in this case. In less than a minute from the time that the gerbs were set off the entire stage was on fire and the most of the band members and those when them were running towards the door next to the stage. It was then that concert goers realized something was wrong and most headed to the front door. But, the door was not just right there and open. From my understanding and from what pictures I have seen when one walked in the front door they basically then walked down a lane the size of a hallway where they would get to an area where they would buy tickets or pay a cover charge. My point is that as people went towards the door, the passageway narrowed significantly. So now not only do you have people running from a fire, breathing in toxic gasses AND being hit by dripping, melting foam coming from the ceiling, there were hundreds of people trying to get through a narrow passage at once and it quickly became a “crushing crowd.”

There were a few other exits in the building but again most went headed towards the front door. There was a door off the kitchen behind the bar area but very few people but the employees knew of this exit. There was also the one right by the stage and what happened there was another issue of contention. During normal operations that door was to only be used for the band. People would later say that they attempted to go out that door and the bouncers, working for the club, were blocking them and preventing them from using that door. There were some that stated they pushed through the bouncers and used it anyway, that is until that door was impassable due to the fire. There were some patrons that were able to break windows and find other ways to get out, but again there was an abundance of people, all in a panic, trying to all get out at once.

One of the people at the scene that night was a man by the name of Brian Butler. Butler worked for the local television station and was there to help Jeff Derderian in his story about nightclub safety. Butler had already started taping when the band started and he continued to video throughout the fire. If you want to see his footage you can do a Google search or find it on YouTube. Butler was criticized later for continuing to videotape and it was alleged that he hindered people from escaping and failed to help people escape. Butler denied these things but his employee would settle one of many civil suits that were filed claiming just those things about Butler.

When it was all said and done it was said that 100 people were killed. A few of them died later at the hospital but most were at the scene. The causes of death ranged from poison from inhaling the toxic gas, to burning to death, to being trampled to death. It was also said that an addition 230 people were injured in some way and that 132 escaped without injury. Unless these widely published numbers are somehow incorrect then there is no way there were just over 300 inside the club as Scott James has claimed. I can say that the 100 killed is a definite number. There are now memorials at the site and those confirmed dead from the fire have been widely published.

From moments after the call of the fire was called in there was apparently live coverage with several officials making statements. While the fire was still burning it was said that the local police chief claimed the Derderians “most definitely will be indicted.” This is one of the things that Scott James apparently speaks about in his book. It seems very apparent, very quickly, even before the fire cause had been determined that the Derderians were being looked at and persecuted. Let me say that yes, I do feel they had some responsibility here, but as I stated earlier, there was a lot of blame to go ad.

An investigation and even a model mock version of the fire was made to determine what happened. The investigators had Brian Butler's video to help them know how fast the fire spread and what happened. They were able to determine just how quickly the foam on the walls and ceiling had caught fire and spread. Early on in the investigation two things happened. One was that the local television station was cited for conflict of interest “for having a reporter do a report concerning his own property.” In my opinion while this may have gone against standards, it was petty. Brian Butler's video was actually very instrumental in the investigation. The report itself was not being done, just the film footage that would have been edited for a report later. I found nothing that stated Jeff Derderian had done any parts for the report at that point. The other thing that happened was that the Derderian brothers were fined 1.07 million dollars for failing to carry workers compensation insurance for his employees. Four of their employees died in the fire.

On December 9, 2003 Jeff and Michael Derderian, along with Great White's tour manager, Daniel Biechele were each charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter. That was two counts per death. One count was listed as criminal negligent manslaughter and one each misdemeanor manslaughter. As is customary all of the defendants initially pleaded not guilty.

Daniel Biechele was scheduled to go on trial in May of 2006 but a few months before, against the advice of his lawyer, he changed his plea to guilty. Nearly everyone involved in this case has expressed that Biechele was the only person involved that expressed any kind of remorse. It appears that no one ever believed that the fire was intentionally set or was anything more than a terrible accident, but even accident deserve to have remorse and sympathy. It was said that at some point Biechele personally sent handwritten letters to the families of each of the 100 victims. I am a bit confused at the next part. It was said that at Biechele's sentencing in May of 2006 prosecutors asked that he be sentenced to ten years and that was the “maximum allowed under the plea bargain.” It was the goal of the prosecutor to make an example out of Biechele. In the end though the judge sentenced him to fifteen years. He was ordered to serve four with eleven years suspended. He was also ordered to three years probation. The judge told Biechele “The greatest sentence that can be imposed on you has been imposed on you by yourself.” Many of the family members of victims supported not only his sentence but also his later release. Some believed that he was way less guilty than the Derderian brothers and believed he was “used as a scapegoat.” Biechele was released in March of 2008 and his probation ended in 2011.

The Derderian brothers would also later change their plea. However, unlike Biechele, they did not change their plea to guilty but to “no contest.” This means that they admitted no responsibility but were willing to take what they got. This angered many of the families of the victims, but they had more anger to come. Michael Derderian would ultimately be given the same sentence as Daniel Biechele.... fifteen years, serve four, eleven suspended and three years probation. Jeff Derderian was given a ten year sentence... all suspended, three years probation and 500 hours of community service. While the Rhode Island Attorney General “objected strenuously” saying that they not only both deserved prison time, they deserved more than Biechele the judge stated that the difference in the sentences reflected their respective involvement in the purchase and installation of the foam. Michael Derderian was released from prison in June of 2009.

Multiple civil suits were filed in the case. I have compiled a list that I found of settlements as of September of 2008. I am unsure whether there were more after that time.

• Jack Russel Tour Group offered one million dollars as that was the max allowed through the insurance covering the band.

• Jeff and Mike Derderian settled for $813,000. This too came from insurance. It should be noted that they had bankruptcy protection from lawsuits.

• The State of Rhode Island and the city of West Warwick paid out ten million.

• Sealed AirCorp- they made the foam that was used. They paid out twenty-five million.

• WPRI-TV- The local television station paid out thirty million for Brian Butler allegedly obstructing the escape of others and “not sufficiently helping people out.”

• JBC Speakers- they were accused of using flammable foam in their speakers; they paid out $815,000.

• Anheuser-Busch along with distributor McLaughlin and Moran sponsored the event. Anheuser-Busch paid out five million while McLaughlin paid out sixteen million.

• Home Depot and Polar Industries- they were the installation company; they paid out five million.

• Clear Channel- they owned the radio station that was also sponsoring the event; they paid out twenty-two million.

• American Foam Corporation- they sold the insulation to the Derderian's; they paid out $6.3 million.

In 2007 the Derderians started The Station Education Fund with Jody King, a childhood friend whose brother, Tracy, who was a bouncer at The Station that night and died in the fire. The purpose of the fund is to help the children of those who lost parents in the fire with college scholarships and other things. Seventy-six children lost at least one parent on that night.

Jack Russell continues to receive criticism about that night in February 2003. He continues to revamp the band, without his longtime guitarist Ty Longly. Longly died that night when he went back in presumably to save his guitar and became trapped. The band vowed never to play the opening song of that concert ever again but that only last a few years. Many families of the victims, and survivors have been critical of Russell as he seemed to attempt to distance himself almost immediately from the fire. This fire will follow him forever. In mid-2020 during the first spike and height of the COVID-19 pandemic Russell and his band continued to have concerts, without restrictions. It was an easy opening for people to bring up the fire again and criticize him for “once again” not seemingly caring about his fans.

I did not find a list of all of the victims and their names but presumably you can find that at the site of where The Station once stood. A memorial site was dedicated there on May 21, 2017 and it is said that every year just after 10 pm on February 20^th, there is a service to remember the victims. I have named only a few here and that was quite on purpose. I have named Ty Longly because he was a band member and I feel as if that makes Russell's behavior a bit more “interesting.” I will just say that. I also mentioned Tracy King because his brother started the Education Fund with the Derderian's. There were obviously 98 other people who lost their lives. At least three others were employees of the nightclub died; two women became trapped in the restroom; the emcee of the show... all perished. But, not one life in those 100 was more important than the other. Two hundred and thirty people were injured, some severely. The fact they did not die also is amazing. Some survived not because they got out of the building but because others fell and died on top of them, burying them and in essence shielding them from the fire and toxic gasses. Some say the psychological trauma was nearly as bad as the fire itself.