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November 29, 2006

Station evidence: City fire marshal didn't notice foam

The West Warwick fire marshal at the time of The Station fire, Denis Patrick Larocque, told the state police just days after the fire that he was so focused on an exit door that violated state code that he did not notice any foam around the stage area when he inspected the nightclub three months before the fatal fire.

The door, which opened inward, had been corrected by the club at least twice before, Larocque said. After the previous year’s inspection, the club had removed the door to meet state code, the fire marshal said in his witness statement to the state police and the deputy state fire marshal on Feb. 25, 2003.

Club owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian had installed highly flammable polyurethane foam on the walls of the club as soundproofing after neighbors complained about noise. On the night of the fire, the foam produced deadly fumes and helped the fire spread rapidly through the club, killing 100 people and injured about 200 others.

Larocque’s statement was first made public today, as the state Attorney General’s Office is releasing thousands of pages of documents related to The Station fire investigation.

“I really got upset that someone would reinstall something that we had already cited them for,” Larocque told State Police Det. Sgt. Brian K. Casilli and Deputy State Fire Marshal Robert Mowry. “ … My next stop was right back to the front of, well to the bar to speak with the bartender about who reinstalled the door.”

The last time Larocque said he inspected The Station prior to the fire Feb. 20, 2003, fire was on Nov. 20, 2002, at which point he found nine technical violations, “a lot of the same violations” from the inspection the previous year.

In addition to the inward-opening door, those violations included a broken panic bar on an exit door near the stage, fire extinguishers that weren’t mounted and/or needed service, and an open can of gasoline in the basement.

Larocque said it appeared as if the club owners were trying to limit noise to the neighbors with that second door by the stage, the one that opened inward.

Larocque said he did not know if any permits were ever given to The Station nightclub for pyrotechnics, which sparked the fire. He said he never issued permits for indoor fireworks displays or pyrotechnics and his department didn’t even have a form to issue a permit for such items. To his knowledge, no clubs in the city had ever applied for such permits, he said.

He was asked whether there had been complaints from citizens about overcrowding.

“We haven’t had any complaints that I can recall about any overcrowding or any type of complaints, complaints of that nature,” he said.

Read statements by West Warwick Fire Marshal Denis Larocque on Feb. 25, 2003 and April 7, 2003.In .pdf format. Wait to download.

View records of noise complaints, requests for liquor, victualing and entertainment licenses, and related inspection reports.In .pdf format. Wait to download.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson  at 2:16 PM | Permalink

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