Killer Show: The Station Nightclub Fire (58 page)

109
Sixty-four children under the age of eighteen
Third Amended Master Complaint in
Gray v. Derderian et al
., CA No. 04–312-L, USDC–RI.

109–10
Joe Cristina and Matthew Pickett came
Witness statements of Joseph Cristina, April 29 and May 1, 2003; Katherine Boas, Memorial Biography of Matthew Pickett,
Providence Journal
, March 20, 2003; witness statement of Joseph Pickett, February 13, 2004.

110
They contained Matthew’s personal effects
Personal effects inventory for Matthew Pickett, Rhode Island State Medical Examiner, February 23, 2003.

110
credit cards, heat-fused into a ball of plastic
Witness statement of Dennis Dunham, September 19, 2005.

110
at the left edge of the frame, Matthew Pickett’s striped sweater sleeve
Ibid.

111
His name was Jeff Rader
Duane Serfass, in discussion with the author, June 9, 2009. (Serfass, a close friend of Rader’s, identified Rader as the man in the photo, pointing out the “Tesla” logo on Rader’s shirt that he and Rader had jointly designed.) 111
Rader, thirty-two, lived with his mother
S. I. Rosenbaum, Memorial Biography of Jeffrey Rader,
Providence Journal
, March 20, 2003.

111
During his visit in February 2003
Witness statement of John Kubus, February 26, 2003.

112
the naïveté described by Professor Proulx
Guylene Proulx, in discussion with the author, August 29, 2008.

112–13
When Detective Roland Coutu
Memorandum to Detective Roland Coutu, West Warwick Police Department, from ATF Audio/Video Forensic Specialist Steve Greene, May 11, 2005 (transcription of notes from November 11, 2004, through January 28, 2005, for Case No. 762070–03–0056).

113–14
Pickett’s tape begins with fifteen minutes
Matthew Pickett audiotape, February 20, 2003.

114
Disaster sociologist Lee Clarke notes
Lee Clarke, “Panic: Myth or Reality,”
Contexts
(American Sociological Association, University of California Press), vol. 1, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 21–26.

114–15
While Matthew Pickett’s recorder was memorializing
Brian Butler videotape.

18.
INTO THE BREACH

116–17
Nearly an hour after hose streams
Witness statement of Raul Vargas, February 22, 2003; grand jury testimony of Raul Vargas, October 29, 2003; Cathleen F. Crowley, “A Survivor’s Story: Saved by a Pileup,”
Providence Journal
, March 10, 2003.

117
Lieutenant Roger St. Jean was a
Witness statement of Roger St. Jean, March 28, 2003; grand jury testimony of Roger St. Jean, July 16, 2003; witness statement of Aaron Perkins, March 14, 2003; Tom Mooney, “Saving Lives at the Open Gates of Hell,”
Providence Journal
, April 13, 2003.

117–18
Each station had a pumper truck
Titan Report, A-1.

118
At one point, St. Jean turned
Witness statement of Patrolman Mark Knott, February 28, 2003, p. 16.

118
Under standard firefighting protocol
Titan Report, A-12.

118
This was accomplished by Fire Captain Kevin Sullivan
Ibid.

118–19
Engines and ladder trucks from other West Warwick stations
Ibid., A-12–14, fig. A-6.

119
Two three-inch supply lines
Ibid., A-11.

119
Then, one Cranston fire company mistakenly laid
Ibid.

119
West Warwick’s Special Hazards Unit
Ibid. A-16.

119
About thirty minutes into the firefighting
Ibid.

119
West Warwick Engine 1 laid three hundred feet
Ibid., A-12.

119–20
Detectives Gary Appolonia and Brian Araujo
Mooney, “Saving Lives at the Open Gates of Hell.”

120
Patrolman Jason Senerchia approached The Station
Ibid.

120
As a result, policemen Bettencourt and Knott
Witness statement of Mark Knott, February 28, 2003, p. 17; witness statement of Patrolman Anthony Bettencourt, February 26, 2003; witness statement of Captain Gregory Johnson, March 1, 2003.

120
Patrolman Stephen Vannini was among
Witness statement of Patrolman Stephen Vannini, February 21, 2003; Mooney, “Saving Lives at the Gates of Hell.”

121
Officer Michael Sullivan of the Warwick police arrived
Witness statement of Michael Sullivan, February 25, 2003.

121
Great White’s tour bus was parked lengthwise
Witness statement of Captain Gregory Johnson; witness statement of John Kubus, March 4, 2003.

121–22
Back in a parking lot across the street from the burning Station
Witness statement of Frank Davidson, February 22, 2003; transcript of recorded phone conversation between Frank Davidson and Paul Vanner, February 28, 2003 (Rhode Island State Police controlled call); transcript of recorded phone conversation between Frank Davidson and Kevin Beese, March 1, 2003 (Rhode Island State Police controlled call); witness statement of David Stone, February 26, 2003.

122
Later that evening, when the flames
Witness statement of Roger St. Jean; witness statement of Aaron Perkins.

122
That night, two drunks slumped
Peter Ginaitt and Leo Kennedy, “Station Fire Emergency Response,” presentation at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Providence, February 27, 2008.

122–23
As he stepped from his fire truck, Captain Kevin Sullivan
Titan Report, A-11.

123
He would later learn that West Warwick
Witness statement of Sergeant Thomas Hannon, February 25, 2003.

123
This group was soon joined by
Ibid.

123–24
Warwick rescue captain Peter Ginaitt
G. Wayne Miller, “Amid Screams, Rescue Workers Go About Grim Task,”
Providence Journal
, February 23, 2003; Ginaitt and Kennedy, “Station Fire Emergency Response”; Meaghan Wims, “At the Station,”
QuadAngles
(University of Rhode Island), vol. 20, no. 4 (Summer 2008); Titan Report, B-4–21.

124
Thirty-four rescue units and twenty-three private ambulances
Titan Report, B-4, 5.

124
West Warwick dispatchers turned to the Yellow Pages
Ibid., B-7, 21.

124
Ginaitt and Kennedy not only triaged victims
Ginaitt and Kennedy, “Station Fire Emergency Response.”

124
The system worked remarkably well
Titan Report, B-15.

125
The Cowesett Inn served not only as a medical triage center
Ibid., D-5.

125
One somewhat disquieting feature
Ginaitt and Kennedy, “Station Fire Emergency Response.”

125
As far as the firefighting was concerned
Titan Report, A-16.

125
At 11:30 p.m., the West Warwick Police
Ibid., E-73; Jay Kingston, in discussion with the author, July 29, 2011.

125
His next call was to Rhode Island’s chief state medical examiner
Jay S. Kingston, “Scene Investigator’s Report of Incident Scene Findings,” State of Rhode Island Office of the Medical Examiner, February 23, 2003; Jay Kingston, discussion with author.

125
Unlike television coroners
Richard A. Gould, in discussion with the author, May 19, 2009; Jay Kingston, discussion with author.

125–26
So, despite no fewer than five telephone calls
Kingston, “Scene Investigator’s Report”; Titan Report, D-7, E-78; Jay Kingston, discussion with author.

126–27
Instead, only one investigator from the ME’s office
Kingston, “Scene Investigator’s Report”; Jay Kingston, discussion with author.

127
Removal of thirty-one victims from the front hallway
“Location of 96 Bodies” diagram, NIST Report, fig. 5–54.

127
Consistent with preferred protocol for mass casualties
Titan Report, E-62–63.

127
Seventeen hours earlier, as flames shot into the night sky
Witness statement of Cara DelSesto, May 5, 2003.

19.
SOLID GASOLINE

128
In 1970, three nightclub owners in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont
“1970: Nightclub Inferno ‘Wipes Out Generation,’” BBC News, On This Day, November 1, 1970;
http://news.bbc.co.uk
; “An Unusual Silence,”
Time
, November 16, 1970;
http://www.time.com
; affidavit of David P. Demers, P.E., Document no. 1698–5, filed October 29, 2007, in
Gray et al. v. Derderian et al
., CA No. 04–312-L, USDC–RI, §16 (citing “White Grotto Becomes Black Tomb,”
Fire Journal
, National Fire Protection Association, May 1971).

128
It made the pair’s previous paean to pot-inspired kids’ fantasy
Sid and Marty Krofft denied that
H. R. Pufnstuf
was short for “Hand-Rolled Puffing stuff.” However, the show’s theme song, currently accessible on YouTube, leaves the question open. (“H. R. Pufnstuf, he can’t do a little ’cause he can’t do enough …”) Consistent with the oeuvre, the brothers’ other children’s show was called
Lidsville
.

128–29
Polyurethane was the brainchild of Otto Bayer
Mary Bellis, “Polyurethane,” in “1937–1949—Invention, Research and Development,” Bayer Industries Polyurethanes Business Group; G. Wayne Miller and Peter B. Lord, “It’s Just About Everywhere,”
Providence Journal
, September 28, 2003.

129
In order to understand how knowledge of foam plastic’s
A. J. Steiner, “Fire Hazard Tests of Building Materials,”
Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association
37, no. 1 (July 1943); Francis L. Brannigan,
Building Construction for the Fire Service
, 3rd ed. (Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 1992), 410–11; Robert Brady Williamson and Frederick W. Mowrer, “The Role of Interior Finish in Fire Development,”
Fire Protection Engineering
, September 22, 2004; Robert Brady Williamson, “The Role of Foam Plastics in Fire Development and a Brief History of How Foam Plastics Have Been Treated in the U.S.,” University of California, Berkeley; “Standard Test Method for Rate of Burning and/or Extent and Time of Burning of Cellular Plastics Using a Specimen Supported by a Horizontal Screen” (ASTM D-1692), American Society for Testing and Materials.

130–131
Up until 1974, manufacturers of PU foam In the Matter of the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. et al
., Federal Trade Commission, Docket No. C-2596, 84 FTC 1253, 1974 FTC LEXIS 35, November 4, 1974 (Complaint, Decision and Order) (hereafter, FTC Consent Order).

131
The FTC’s investigation found that the Steiner tunnel test
Ibid.

131
This is not to say that people seriously interested
Grand jury testimony of Joseph B. Zicherman, November 12, 2003.

131–32
As a result of the FTC’s investigation
FTC Consent Order.

132
Right after the consent agreement was entered
FTC Proposed Trade Regulation Rule entitled “Disclosure Requirements and Prohibitions Concerning the Flammability of Plastics,” 16 CFR Part 439, 39
Fed. Reg
. 28292, August 6, 1974.

132
However, the FTC soon abandoned that proposal
Eric Rubin, in discussion with the author, August 5, 2009. (Rubin was deputy assistant director of marketing practices, consumer protection, for the FTC during the plastics industry investigation leading up to the 1974 consent agreement.) The plastics industry maintains a cordial relationship with its federal regulators. As reported by the
Providence Journal
(G. Wayne Miller and Peter B. Lord, “Fatal Foam—the
Providence Journal
Burn Test,”
Providence Journal
, October 1, 2003), in the spring of 2003, shortly after the Station nightclub fire, Consumer Products Safety Commission chairman Hal Stratton was the keynote speaker at the Polyurethane Foam Association’s general business meeting. There, foam manufacturers, raw materials suppliers, and finished-goods makers listened as industry speakers blamed the Station tragedy on pyrotechnics and lack of sprinklers. None faulted the foam on the walls.