GREAT WHITE: Fire Marshal Who Inspected Nightclub Missed Foam
January 3, 2007The Associated Press reports:
A town fire marshal who inspected a nightclub months before a fire killed 100 people told a grand jury investigating the blaze that he didn't see flammable foam around the stage because his "fire-safety" inspection was focused on extinguishers, exit signs and emergency lighting — but not on the dangerous material blamed for fueling the flames.
Former West Warwick Fire Marshal Denis Larocque has never spoken publicly about The Station nightclub fire in 2003 — or his role in inspecting the club. But he described to the grand jury a November 2002 visit to the club that was done as part of an annual liquor license renewal process.
He said he spotted nine problems, including poorly lit exit signs and an inward-swinging door, but didn't see the foam because he was doing what he called a "basic," less in-depth inspection.
"These particular inspections are not full-building inspections," Larocque told the grand jury, according to a transcript dated June 25, 2003. "These are, what they call, fire-safety inspections."
A copy of Larocque's testimony, obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, offers the fullest account to date of how officials overseeing building inspections and enforcing fire codes never detected the highly flammable foam — a crucial question in the investigation into the fire at the nightclub.
Read more from The Associated Press.
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