Killer Show: The Station Nightclub Fire, America’s Deadliest Rock Concert

Notes & Sources

notes & sources PreFatory note concerning sources For the booK After pleas of guilty and nolo contendere were entered by Dan Biechele and the Derderian brothers, the Providence Journal, the Associated Press, and the Boston Globe filed a public records request for the Rhode Island attorney general’s entire file concerning the Station nightclub fire. In an unprecedented concession to public disclosure, on November 29, 2006, Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch released more than three thousand pages of documents, photographs, and transcripts of grand jury proceedings, uploading all to a publicly accessible website maintained by his department. Included in the materials were hundreds of witness statements and sworn testimony of key players in the tragedy. The attorney general also made his entire file of these documents (edited for privacy and sensitivity) available at no cost to anyone furnishing his department with a computer hard drive for receiving the data. For at least three years thereafter, the Providence Journal provided links on its own website to the attorney general’s materials, indexing them according to persons of particular interest, but also providing a portal to all of the AG’s materials. This trove of first-person accounts was extensively used in researching Killer Show. Where a source citation is to a “witness statement,” “grand jury testimony,” or a document contemporaneous with the fire, that source was contained in the materials publicly released by the attorney general and available on his website for multiple years. Where a source citation is to a pleading in the Station fire civil litigation, such document was a public record in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, available in hard copy through the court clerk, or electronically through the court’s PACER system of document retrieval. The Brian Butler videotape of the fire was, similarly, available to the public for several years on DVD through the federal court clerk’s office as an exhibit to pleadings filed in the consolidated civil cases. 254 n o t e s a n d s o u r c e s Additionally, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Domestic Preparedness hired the Titan Corporation to prepare an “after-action report” on emergency response to the fire. That document was extremely valuable in reconstructing official response to the event. Finally, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), part of the United States Department of Commerce, produced a multivolume report on the causes of the fire and the inability of many patrons to escape. That report, also available to the public, was used in researching Killer Show. Personal interviews provided additional material for the book; however, several key individuals declined the author’s request to be interviewed. They were Jeffrey Derderian, Michael Derderian, Dan Biechele, Denis Larocque, Jack Russell, and Irving (“Jesse”) Owens. 255 n o t e s t o p a g e s 1 – 7 1. Sifting the Ashes 1 Only snippets of conversation among the firefighters Karen Lee Ziner and Zachary R. Mider, “Many Feared Dead, Scores Injured, as Fire Rips through West Warwick Club,” Providence Journal, February 21, 2003. 1 By late morning, over one hundred of them Scott MacKay and Alex Kuffner, “Nation’s Media Coverage Converge on Town,” Providence Journal, February 22, 2003. 2 During the first daylight hours, news helicopters Titan Corporation, “The Station Club Fire After-Action Report,” under contract to the Office for Domestic Preparedness, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (hereafter cited as Titan Report), sec. A-26. 2 Video of the fire itself Brian Butler, WPRI-TV Channel 12 videotape (hereafter, Brian Butler videotape), February 20, 2003. 2 Among the questioners was Whitney Casey Whitney Casey, in discussion with the author, June 17, 2008. 3 Ten hours before the fire Bryan Rourke, “Fire Marshal Thought Disaster Would Be ‘Remote,’” Providence Journal, February 22, 2003. 3 Now he wondered whether the phone message Edward Fitzpatrick, “Is It Fair to Blame the State Fire Marshal?” Providence Journal, April 6, 2003. 3 Amid the crackle of flames and din of sirens Ibid. 3 Over the next several days Jennifer Levitz and Zachary R. Mider, “Blaze, Smoke Engulf Victims within Seconds,” Providence Journal, February 22, 2003; Tom Mooney, Linda Borg, and Amanda Milkovits, “With Photos in Hand, Families Hold Out Hope,” Providence Journal, February 22, 2003. 3 Had she been allowed closer Richard A. Gould, “Report of Forensic Archaeology Recovery Team,” March 28...