WEST WARWICK, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island is marking the 17th anniversary on Thursday of a nightclub fire that killed 100 people and injured more than 200 others.
The Feb. 20, 2003, blaze began when pyrotechnics for the rock band Great White ignited flammable foam that lined the club’s walls as soundproofing. The fire quickly spread through the overcrowded club, and many people became trapped and died, or were severely burned.
The site of the fire opened as a memorial park in May 2017.
The Station Fire Memorial Foundation installed a timeline at the top of the memorial that details important events leading up to and since the fire. It begins six decades before Feb. 20, 2003, with the 1942 fire at the Boston nightclub Cocoanut Grove that killed 492 people.
Dave Kane, the father of the youngest victim, Nicholas O’Neill, told WPRI-TV that the memorial should act as a reminder for elected officials to ensure people’s safety.
“This was supposed to be a monument to remind state officials, local officials, elected officials what happens when you don’t do your job. People die,” Kane said. “As people drive by, they should be reminded to do the right thing and make sure the people that we hire, do the right thing.”
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