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Third Anniversary Of Rhode Island Nightclub Fire

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Feb 20, 2006 8:41 pm US/Eastern

Third Anniversary Of Rhode Island Nightclub Fire

Slideshow: The Station Nightclub Tragedy

CBS4 Video Vault: Coverage Of The Station Nightclub Tragedy

WEST WARWICK, RI (CBS4) ― It was exactly three years ago that a devastating fire killed 100 people at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island.

It was one of the worst fires in American history.

Friends and relatives of the victims brought flowers and stopped to pay respects Monday at the site where the club once stood.

One man who lost his son in the fire drove up from New York to honor him.

Jessica Garvey, who lost her sister in the fire, said she's glad to see the case is finally moving through the courts.

"I really don't think that people can fully recover from this until all the criminal and civil lawsuits are over," she said.

Earlier this month, Great White tour manager Dan Biechle pleaded guilty to one hundred counts of manslaughter. It was Biechle who actually set off the stage fireworks that started the fire.

He has agreed to help prosecutors in their case against club owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian.

Read the Derderians statement on the Anniversary

Biechle claims Michael Derderian gave him the okay to use the fireworks, a claim lawyers for the Derderians deny.

Biechle could be sentenced up to ten years in prison.

Both Michael and Jeffery Derderian are also charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

No trial date has been set.

Several hundred people gathered Sunday for the annual memorial service, while Governor Carcieri gave the first Hope Awards Sunday night to two people who helped in the aftermath of the fire -- James Paolucci, vice president of West Warwick's Cowesett Inn, and Victoria Potvin Eagan, a fire survivor and founder of The Station Family Fund.

Paolucci opened the inn to emergency workers, victims and others the night of the fire. The Station Family Fund raises money for victims and their families.

Carcieri says Paolucci and Potvin Eagan did more than was expected in helping care for victims and their families.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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