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03/02/2003��10:56:13�EST
Robert E. Klein/AP Photo
R.I. Nightclub Death Toll Rises to 98
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
The death toll from one of the nation's worst nightclub disasters rose to 98 after a woman who had been hospitalized died from her burns, hospital officials said Sunday.
Kelly Viera died Saturday at Boston Shriners Hospital, said Victoria Brady, a spokeswoman for affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. Viera's age and hometown were not immediately released.
Sunday morning, 51 people remained hospitalized in Rhode Island and Massachusetts with injuries suffered in the Feb. 20 fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick. Thirty-three were in critical condition.
One other victim who had been hospitalized after the fire died Friday. Ninety-six perished the night of the blaze.
Meanwhile, an owner of The Station traded blame with a neighbor over the installation of cheap, flammable foam at the center of the investigation into one of the nation's deadliest fires. The attorney for club co-owner Michael Derderian said that Barry Warner, a foam salesman living next door to the venue, approached her client to sell soundproofing foam that could help them put an end to neighborhood noise complaints.
The club ended up with highly flammable packing foam, Warner, the company he worked for, and the attorney for Michael Derderian agree. Experts say the material burns like gasoline, emits a dense, toxic smoke and isn't suitable for use as acoustic insulation.
"Barry represented that this is the foam that you use to soundproof a club," attorney Kathleen Hagerty said of the June 2000 discussion. "They relied on him. He was the expert."
Warner refuted that account in an interview Saturday. He said that Michael Derderian and his brother and co-owner, Jeffrey, approached him soon after buying The Station in early 2000 to discuss his long-standing concerns about noise.
When they learned he worked for Johnston-based American Foam Corp., Warner said, they aggressively sought to purchase material for soundproofing.
The Derderians wanted the cheapest option, he said, and safety was never discussed.
"The issue never came up," Warner said. "More expensive options, he wasn't interested."
He did not say which brother seemed uninterested in pricier choices, describing the conversations about the foam as taking place with the Derderians jointly and separately over several weeks.
Fire investigators suspect sparks from a pyrotechnic display used by the band Great White on Feb. 20 ignited the sheets of polyurethane packaging foam, triggering a fire that swept through the one-story wooden building, killing 98 people.
Fire experts have said that the type of light, porous foam purchased by The Station burns like gasoline, emitting a dense smoke containing carbon monoxide, cyanide and other toxic gases.
American Foam Corp. owner Amar DerManouelian said Friday The Station bought $575 worth of the foam.
"They asked for egg-crate material and that's what we sold them," DerManouelian said. "They had choices and that's what they bought."
Rhode Island law prohibits flammable acoustic material from the walls of gathering places like bars. DerManouelian said the material The Station bought was not flame retardant.
The Station was inspected by town officials several times, including in December. There is no indication inspectors raised concerns about the soundproofing. Town officials have not released the most recent inspection report.
"They're seriously concerned they may have missed something," West Warwick Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer has said of building inspectors. "They don't think they have, but nobody is perfect."
Hagerty and Warner contradicted each other's accounts of Warner's involvement in the sale and installation of the foam.
Hagerty said Warner visited the club to customize the order to the owners' specifications.
"Barry Warner did the measurement in the club," she said. "They had no knowledge or any reason to believe that what was being sold to them was not appropriate for the purpose of soundproofing the club," Hagerty said.
Sitting at the dining room table in his home overlooking the blackened ruins of the nightclub, Warner called that description "inaccurate."
"I did not place the order, I did not measure the job, I did not deliver the job, I did not arrange for delivery," he said.
A grand jury investigating the blaze convened this week in East Greenwich and Attorney General Patrick Lynch has said that his office is examining the soundproofing as a potential culprit in the fire. Lynch declined to comment Friday on any specifics of his investigation, including what role the foam played.
Investigators took samples of the foam sold to The Station and the invoice for the sale when they visited American Foam last week. Remnants of the foam insulation recovered from the scene have been sent to a lab for testing.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. |
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