Soundproofing Probed in Club Fire

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The dealer who sold soundproofing to the nightclub where an inferno killed 97 people said Friday that the owners bought cheap and highly flammable packing foam, not real acoustic insulation.

Experts said the packing foam burns like gasoline and emits a dense, toxic smoke.

Store records show that the Station club in West Warwick purchased “the lowest grade, the cheapest stuff,” said the dealer, Aram DerManouelian, president of American Foam Corp. An attorney for co-owner Jeffrey Derderian wouldn’t comment on the purchase and an attorney for his brother and co-owner Michael Derderian didn’t return calls.

Investigators visited American Foam’s headquarters in Johnston this week, taking samples of the foam and an invoice for the sale of 25 sheets of low-density, polyurethane packaging foam to the Station for $575, DerManouelian said. He said the company cuts and sells the foam for use as packaging material.

Soundproofing is a focus of the inquiry into the Feb. 20 fire, one of the deadliest nightclub blazes in U.S. history. Authorities think sparks from pyrotechnics set off by the band Great White ignited soundproofing, sending flames racing through the one-story wooden building. A grand jury is investigating.

The June 2000 foam purchase came a few months after the Derderians bought the club, and followed complaints about noise. The invoice does not say who at the club ordered the foam, DerManouelian said.

Officials with the band maintain they had the club’s permission to set off the pyrotechnics; the club’s owners deny that.

Great White lead singer Jack Russell was subpoenaed to appear Friday before the grand jury. His lawyer, Neil Philbin, said Russell was seeking immunity from prosecution before testifying.

The death toll from the blaze rose to 97 after the death Friday of Linda Suffoletto, who had been in a Boston hospital since the fire. Her husband, Benjamin Suffoletto, 43, also was killed.

About 50 people remained hospitalized in the blaze.