Behind The Rhode Island Nightclub Fire

"This willful violation of the fire code at The Station is among several findings of a two-month Globe investigation... Lenient or negligent oversight by fire inspectors was not uncommon in West Warwick... West Warwick officials had made it plain since March 2000, when the Derderians purchased the club, that their license depended on their ability to get along with a neighborhood of simple homes on a rise behind the nightclub, where a commercial district of strip malls, fast-food joints, and auto shops fades into suburbia. The neighbors wanted the club to lower the volume. The polyurethane packing foam the new owners installed on The Station's walls was meant to do just that."

Thanks to Chris Steins