The Feb. 20, 2003. But Jeff Derderian, who was helping out at the bar, says he and an employee tried to get to the stage with a fire extinguisher. Scott James: He writes up this long, almost a manifesto about all the things that he thinks are wrong in that foam company that led to this tragedy. JACK RUSSELL [news interview]: We never do anything without asking permission first.
REELZ announces documentary about Great White club fire [63] Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch objected strenuously to the plea bargain, saying that both brothers should have received jail time and that Michael Derderian should have received more time than Biechele. And 18 years after the fire, the brothers say they want to set the record straight and reveal new information. That's all I can keep seeing in my head. Phil Barr: You know just have a beer, see a concert. Produced by Betsy Shuller and Chris Young Ritzen. She saw friends who had lost people they loved, others who had been burned and scarred by the fire, and felt embarrassed that she got out physically unharmed. Survivors of the Station nightclub fire reflect on tragedy's 20th anniversary One hundred people were killed and many more injured when a pyrotechnic display caused a massive blaze in 2003.. Linda Saran: They have said they were sorry. She got out. And I fell down the stairs, out that door. But 15 years later, she said, its time for her to move out of its shadow. JEFF DERDERIAN [crying]: Many people didn't make it out and that is a horror that will haunt my family and I for the rest of our lives. Patrick Lynch: I don't think there's any question that had that door not been up a significant number of people would have survived. Her bill was $646 that month, she said. A West Warwick police officer who was already at the scene also reported the fire to police dispatch. [90] The band initially retired "Desert Moon", the song they were performing when the fire began, from their concert set list. It was there, she said, that she found the best therapists: others who had been in the fire. But, you know, they have this following to this day . And then we've got the pressure from the judge saying you know, you're going to go to jail for 30 years apiece. Most people still just stood there. The blaze began when the band Jack Russell's Great White took the stage and their tour manager set off four large fireworks. And that's when it starts to hit you all that you've lost. [95][49], Neither version of Great White performed in any of the six New England states for over a decade following the fire. [83], In June 2003, the Station Fire Memorial Foundation (SFMF) was formed with the purpose of purchasing the property, to build and maintain a memorial. [2][46] On December 9, 2003, the grand jury announced indictments against Station owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian and Great White road manager Daniel M. Jody King: As I went by the fire station fire trucks are coming out Now the question in my head is why are all these firetrucks leaving? The Station nightclub fire occurred on the evening of February 20, 2003 at The Station, a nightclub and hard rock music venue in West Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, killing 100 people and injuring 230. Out of it. He is now seven years sober from cocaine, although alcohol is a more pestering problem, he says. Almost immediately the finger pointing started. [61] Michael Derderian received fifteen years in prison, with four to serve and eleven years suspended, plus three years' probationthe same sentence as Biechele. The fire started shortly after Great White began performing their opening number, "Desert Moon". [9] The lack of usable exits were also a factor, as was the inward door that Larocque had found and asked to be removed. And settled for $1 million. "[58], Dave Kane and Joanne O'Neill, parents of youngest victim Nicholas O'Neill, released their letter to the board to reporters. And I never expected it to take off as fast as it did. There's an exit near the stage. "[63] He added that the difference in the brothers' sentences reflected their respective involvement with the purchase and installation of the flammable foam. The Derderians learned about a piece of evidence they say is important that was never presented to the grand jury: an eight-page fax sent to the Attorney General's Office anonymously just months after the fire entitled "The Fire.
DEE SNIDER Defends GREAT WHITE Over Deadly Concert Fire: 'They Would I just don't find him as guilty of anything. View All 100 Memorials for the The Station Nightclub Fire Site. [32] The fine was not resolved until 2013, ten years after the fire, when it was upheld by a judge. Linda Saran: The foam was raining down and the flames are dripping from the ceiling. Patrick Lynch: The defendant had every right to go to trial and say, hey, if it's this mysterious fax that it's trying to be referenced today, 18 years later, hey, this is important. Petrarca remembers one of the most beautiful moments shes had. [tears up] And the roof and just everything just fast, too fast. And outside I went. Tracy King liked to entertain people with his unique talent. [79], The site of the fire was cleared, and a multitude of crosses were placed as memorials, left by loved ones of the deceased. Judy Tygard is the executive producer. They were told to take it down. The Station was owned by brothers Jeff and Michael Derderian. Phil Barr: A lot of people moved back towards the main entrance it became really clear that we were not going to be able [to] get out the front door. [8], Great White had two opening acts for the February 20 concert: Trip, a group from Vancouver, Washington, and Fathead, a local Rhode Island band. Jeff Derderian: That door was meant to block the noise from the neighbors. If they stood up and said, small business owners, we were inexperienced. Shed read Russos book, about how the fire left her a bald chick, and it convinced her to go back out into the world. Today, we mourn the 100 lives lost in the Station nightclub fire and the hundreds more whose lives will never be the same. True to his words, Barr fought to breathe on his own. "[5], Many of the survivors of the fire developed post-traumatic stress disorder after the event. Scott James: When people arrive, they walk through this entrance and this kinda longish hallway. [85] By April 2016, $1.65 million of the $2 million fundraising goal had been achieved and construction of the Station Fire Memorial Park had commenced. The night of the fire Jeff Derderian gave a statement to the local police and another one to an investigator with the Attorney General's Office. In 2008, the band agreed to pay $1. After the investigation ended and prosecutors had no more questions, after reporters stopped calling and the years passed since that deadly night, the man who was the sound technician and stage manager at The Station nightclub was left with his thoughts.
In Memoriam: Victims of the Station Nightclub Fire - WPRI.com [89] Kendall said in 2005, "We haven't played that song. And while they weren't charged in the criminal case, survivors and victims' families sued them in civil court for not warning the Derderians the foam they sent them was flammable. She spoke with the Globe about Jefferey and Michael Derderian, the . "I literally baked alive," says Linda Barr. "
Survivor of The Station nightclub fire reflects on 20th anniversary He sees a court-ordered therapist, who has told him he has depression and PTSD. Michael Derderian: He's completely out of it. [2], Prior to the fire, the Station often hosted concerts by 1980s hard rock groups and tribute bands. She wrote a book, meets with burn victims, talks to fire departments and fire safety groups across the country. We're running out of time." Linda Saran: That's when you make a decision. I couldn't hear noise. And, according to the brothers, it was one of the first exits used when the fire started. The shooting was first reported at 12:04 a.m. in the 300 block of S. 1st . And so, when the fire inspector came in and said that that door had to come down the door, the door did come down. And they're quick to point out the club was inspected by their insurance company, and multiple times by the local Fire Marshal Denis Laroque. The flanking gerbs became the principal cause of the fire. [94] Kendall's version of the band holds the copyright for the Great White name. They all say I never would have stopped it, and I probably wouldnt have. Jim Axelrod: There are so many people still to this day angry that the case didn't go to trial. They all came so every single one of those hundred students held up a white rose and they represented one of the 100 [who died]. [80], A permanent memorial at the site of the fire has been erected and named the Station Fire Memorial Park. On May 20, 2003, nondenominational services began to be held at the site of the fire for a number of months. Its surreal.
The Station Nightclub Fire Tragedy Memorial Site - Legacy.com Jim Axelrod: And that's when the despair sinks in. The brothers have since learned that the fire marshal should have tested the foam on the wall. One guy did crawl out. She said she spent years after that in pain and anger. I went back around the front again, and that's when you saw people stacked on top of each other, trying to get out of the front door. Joe Kinan was badly burned in the deadly Station Nightclub fire in Rhode Island that left 100 dead and 230 injured in February 2003 . She had a cellphone that was working and handed it off to anyone who needed to call home and let their family know they were safe. As soon as the pyrotechnics stopped, the flame had started on the egg-crate backing behind the stage, and it just went up the ceiling. Robin Petrarca was in New York City three weeks ago, looking for some laughs in a comedy club. And I said my hands won't work. [31], Four employees of the Station were killed in the fire. They didn't even let him talk about it. As we mark 20 years since that night, here are those who. Share. Its irrelevant.. Phil Barr: and I felt the door and I just heaved my shoulder into it. Phil Barr: Being a survivor of The Station nightclub fire is a piece of who I am. That's how thick the smoke was. Jim Axelrod: How do you know he went in nine times? Del Sesto said her life is told in three chapters now.
The Station Nightclub Fire: A Horrific First-Person View of the [1] The building that would become The Station was built in 1946 and was originally used as a gin mill. I needed for that day to come, she said. Saran was one of the more than 200 who were seriously hurt in the fire. Michael Derderian: I don't know about that. Patrick Lynch: Looking back on it I would say they ran it as a side business, an attempt to maybe make some extra money with the callous, utter disregard for those that work there and assemble there. [57], On September 4, 2007, some families of the fire's victims expressed their support for Biechele's parole. [49] The tour started five months after the fire, and each concert began with a prayer for survivors and families. (WJAR) WEST WARWICK . Witnesses of the nearly mile-wide tornado recount how they managed to survive. In February 2006 three years after the station nightclub burned down many in Rhode Island were shocked to learn that instead of a trial, a plea deal had been reached with Daniel Biechele, the tour manager for the band Great White. [26] The Cowesett Inn restaurant across the street from the Station acted as an ad-hoc burn triage and command center for first responders. It was crowded, and it was getting bad. And people stood and watched it, and some people backed off. Patrick Lynch: You're telling me it wasn't, and I don't know that it wasn't. Phil Barr fought to breathe on his own. According to author Scott James, Great White had reportedly used a large pyro display without permission at other clubs, including just days before the fire at a show in New Jersey. [9][10][8] At the time of their performance at the Station, Great White only had two of its original members in its lineup: Lead singer Jack Russell and guitarist Mark Kendall. The Station Nightclub Fire: Who's Responsible? You were not approaching that area at all. Barr was now outside, but he felt like his lungs were on fire. These TIAs were subsequently incorporated into the 2006 edition of NFPA 101, along with additional exit requirements for new nightclub occupancies. The fire was now out of control; it had spread along the foam that lined the walls and ceiling intended to dampen sound. Michael spent 33 months in prison, while Jeff had to do 500 hours of community service. Nine months after the fire, the club's owners, brothers Jeff and Michael Derderian, along with Daniel Biechele, the band's tour manager, were each charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter. I have to find him. [2], In the months prior to the fire, the building had been inspected twice by West Warwick fire marshal Denis Larocque. S01:E03 - Station Nightclub Fire. Her father wont visit the memorial, and it took her years to be able to drive down Cowesett Avenue, she said. There was a table in the way at the door, and I pulled that out just to get it out of the way so people could get out easier. [76] The Rhode Island state fire code was changed after the fire to require every nightclub in the state with a capacity of over 150 people to have a sprinkler system installed.[3]. Michael Derderian: Jeffrey was responsible for all the marketing activities. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. The following day the brothers responded at a press conference: JEFF DERDERIAN: No permission was ever requested by the band or any of its agents to use pyrotechnics at The Station, and no permission was ever given. American Foam said Warner's claims about the company are false. At the time of the fire, he had just started a new job closer to home in Providence at the local CBS station. A staggering 100 lives were lost. [9] Michael Derderian told 48 Hours that it was "Undisputable" that the building's use of flammable packing foam instead of flame retardant sound foam was the cause of the fire's spread, but the brothers claimed that they had ordered sound foam and had received the packing foam instead. ", "We are now at 65, and that may be higher ", Jeff Derderian: "Can you come in? then as it heals, the scarring tightens up. Great White was part of the lawsuit. [101], The Derderian brothers conducted their first television interview about the fire in 2021 for 48 Hours. He doesn't know. [9] The ensuing crowd crush in the narrow hallway led to that exit being blocked completely and resulted in numerous deaths and injuries among the patrons and staff. He was out there, and he just loved being in the center. some bleeding I could notice in my throat. But instead, I chose to run like a common coward.. I could have missed my daughter's high school graduation, the birth of her children. "It's hard to describe the level of agony. The fire left her with burns over 40 percent of her body, it incinerated her hair. On February 20, 2003 at about 11:10 p.m., Jody King got a call that something was going on at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island. I never thought it would get so bad., He told bartender Julie Mellini that they had to leave, and she and several patrons followed Vanner out the kitchen door. Today Phil Barr is married and a father of two little girls. Cold air washing over me. I am proud. my dad was in the room. [11] Although the band was officially known as Jack Russell's Great White at the time, and their tour was initially named after Russell's 2002 solo album For You, they were billed by the Station as simply Great White. Fifteen years since that terrible night. Do you understand that anger? There is one consistent thing I have learned after 18 years in the It was completely preventable. Gina Russo, a survivor of The Station nightclub fire. [52] Speaking to the public for the first time since the fire, Biechele stated: For three years, I've wanted to be able to speak to the people that were affected by this tragedy, but I know that there's nothing that I can say or do that will undo what happened that night. Because so many people that were there don't have that opportunity.
Station fire, 15 years later: Survivors tell their stories One near the bar. Michael owned a financial services business; Jeff was a local news reporter. [9] American Foam refuted the claims in Warner's fax. We couldn't make it. [92], Russell left Great White in 2010.
Twisted Sister's Dee Snider Honors 2003 Station Nightclub Fire Victims But she refuses to live in the past. [9] Jeffrey Derderian said the door was also installed due to noise, and they had removed it as asked, but sometimes re-installed it if the venue was going to be loud that night, and it was used by the band to escape the building during the fire. Patrick Lynch: Did he do his job perfectly? Jeff Derderian: I don't know. I remember getting pushed from behind. [9], Thousands of mourners attended an interfaith memorial service at St. Gregory the Great Church in Warwick on February 24, 2003, to remember those lost in the fire. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Barr was located between the stage and the front door. Jeff Derderian: this is flammable you can't have this. WEST WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) - Saturday marks the 18-year anniversary of the Station Nightclub fire that left lasting scars on numerous families and the state of Rhode Island. Linda Saran and her friend Deb were in the atrium, huddled together under a table. Survivor Phil Barr arrived to The Station early the night of the concert. He don't know. And I was responsible for the day to day. 9. Last year, he was charged with striking a woman for whom he was a caretaker. That night is not a coherent memory for her, she said, but a sequence of moments when she was hyper-focused on finding her friends or helping those around her. But then the door would go back up when it was going to be a loud night. Jeff Derderian, seated right, says, "You know a day doesn't go by that we don't think about it in some way, shape or form.".
Joshua Sanders, MS, IAAI-CFI on LinkedIn: ATF_NCETR on Twitter These are videos of prior performances taken inside the club. It took a while, she said, but she thinks she had found the way to move on from it but to keep it with her as well.
The brothers, however, find that hard to believe considering the foam covered the walls, ceiling and even the inward swinging door he cited as a violation. Fifteen years from now, she hopes, her students will go by the park, and have a memory, a connection, with the 100 people whose names and faces are etched into black granite squares arrayed throughout the park. [6], Great White, the headlining band of the February 20 concert, had risen to fame as part of the glam metal scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. He owned his own construction company, and he was often in the backyard with his sons, improving the landscape or building two ponds that he filled with koi fish. Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian reached a settlement of $813,000 with survivors and victims' families in September 2008. Linda Saran: My hospital roommate, he and I took turns driving the respiratory therapist crazy in some ways it's almost like being in war together. [2], Prior to being converted into a nightclub and concert venue, the Station building had been used as a restaurant and tavern. Jody King: I'm so proud to say he's my brother. I thought how terrible it was that my daughter was going to grow up without her mom. [89] The band raised $185,000 for the Station Family Fund during the tour. [21], Among those who died in the fire were Great White guitarist Ty Longley, and the show's emcee, WHJY DJ Mike "The Doctor" Gonsalves. I'm so sorry for what I have done, and I don't want to cause anyone any more pain. Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, the owners of the Station, pleaded no contest and avoided a trial: Michael received the same sentence as Biechele and was released from prison in 2009, while Jeffrey received a sentence of 500 hours of community service. It was like what? Her father has seven brothers, Pimentel said, and she was especially close to Carlos. This is the time to leave. [21] The flames were initially thought to be part of the act; only as the fire reached the ceiling and smoke began to bank down did people realize it was uncontrolled.
Father of youngest Station nightclub fire victim questions why owners Michael Derderian: Zero. "Literally laid there and said, 'God please just take care of my family,' because I knew I was going to die,'" survivor Linda Saran recalls.
Station Benefit Concert Nets $25,000 After Broadcast As a human being how do you not feel some sort of responsibility for that ? And why wasn't the foam company charged? That exit door would soon be engulfed in flames. I come down every year and play the [bagpipes], he told WCVB. Patrick Lynch: Jeffrey and Michael Derderian. Scott James: The fire alarm you hear it kick in. But he didn't know what. Jody King: He trusted the club. The state of Rhode Island is small," says author Scott James. They were friends. These days, she uses her job as a teacher at John F. Deering Middle School to make it so those who didnt suffer so directly will remember it too. 0:57. [44] The NIST report was released on March 3, 2005 and was made available in two parts on June 30, 2005. [36] Butler was there for a planned piece on nightclub safety being reported by Jeffrey A. Derderian, a WPRI news reporter who was also a part-owner of The Station. Station Fire Memorial Park, a permanent memorial to the victims of the fire, was opened in May 2017 at the site where the Station once stood. Mon, February 20th 2023, 8:29 PM PST. He still remembers that deadly night. We haven't played it since then and probably never will. But with last years dedication of the Station Memorial Park on the site of the nightclub, she said she found that along with the scars, that night had provided her with a purpose in life and people she would otherwise never have known. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer.