PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Authorities investigating the California warehouse party fire that killed 36 people have said they are considering a criminal case — even murder charges. But as relatives learned after a nightclub fire killed 100 people in Rhode Island, any prosecution would be a long, complicated road that may not end with a feeling of justice.
The 2003 fire at The Station in West Warwick was started by pyrotechnics for the rock band Great White, which set fire to foam that lined the walls as soundproofing. It was actually highly flammable packing foam, never approved for such a use, and the crowded club became an inferno in seconds.
In Oakland, investigators have said they’re looking at electrical appliances as possible causes in the Friday night fire in the warehouse packed with wooden structures, where electricity was provided by cords that snaked through the space.
In both fires, there was an alleged lack of proper permits and loads of highly flammable material inside. In both, the operators were accused of ignoring safety standards, such as providing adequate fire exits. As in Rhode Island, there are suggestions that officials in Oakland didn’t do enough to inspect the building, leading to tragedy.
At The Station, inspectors failed to note the foam in their reports. They also raised the club’s capacity, so people were allowed to pack inside.
A nearly 10-month grand jury investigation resulted in involuntary manslaughter charges for three people: the club’s owners, Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, and the man who set off the pyrotechnics, Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele.
But many were outraged that the town’s fire marshal and Great White leader Jack Russell were not charged.
Biechele ultimately pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter and served less than two years in prison. The Derderians pleaded no contest to the same charges without admitting guilt. Michael Derderian spent less than three years in prison, and Jeffrey Derderian got community service.
“That was rather devastating,” said Chris Fointaine, whose son, Mark, died, and whose daughter was badly injured. “The fact that one brother walked away with basically no time, and the other with what we considered a slap on the wrist.”
Fontaine called those settlements the most insignificant thing that happened in the case. “To me, that was the least important. To me, seeing justice served would have been the most helpful,” she said. “We never got that justice served. And we never will.”