A Day In Rock: December 9th, 2003 – The Station Fire Charges Filed
Twenty-one years ago… The owners of The Station, Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, and Great White (pictured above) tour manager Dan Biechele are each charged with involuntary manslaughter.
One hundred people were killed the previous February in a fire at the West Warwick, Rhode Island club after Biechele lit the pyrotechnics that sparked the blaze during a Great White show.
Michael Derderian, who installed the flammable soundproof foam that caught fire and Biechele, who failed to acquire the necessary permits, pleaded no contest to the charges in 2006, and served prison sentences.
A settlement of $176 million, reached prior to going to trial, was approved by a federal judge in 2019, ending a lengthy lawsuit. The defendants in the case included the club’s owners, foam manufacturers, Anheuser-Busch, Clear Channel Broadcasting and the town of West Warwick.
A trust fund was set up to hold funds for more than 300 people affected by the fire.
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