More Station Fire Evidence Released
November 9, 2007, 16 years ago
The following report is courtesy of Associated Press:
The attorney general's release yesterday of a final 24,000 pages of evidence and photographs collected after a 2003 nightclub fire that killed 100 people did little to resolve the questions in the mind of Chris Fontaine, whose son was among those killed.
Fontaine and other victims' relatives still want to know how a town fire marshal failed to detect the flammable soundproofing foam blamed for fueling the fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick - or why more people did not face criminal charges after the blaze.
There's also the unresolved question of whether Daniel Biechele, the former tour manager for the rock band GREAT WHITE, had permission to use the pyrotechnics that sparked the fire. The criminal cases against Biechele and club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian ended in plea deals last year, eliminating the chance for a trial and leaving victims' families searching for information about the events leading up to the Feb. 20, 2003 fire.
Though the state has released tens of thousands of pages of evidence in the past year, Fontaine doubted she would get all the answers she wanted.
"I think in order to satisfy those answers, I would have needed to hear firsthand myself from the witnesses," said Fontaine, whose 22-year-old son Mark was killed and daughter, Melanie, was injured.
