80s rockers Great White have reportedly offered a $1 million settlement for victims of that fire caused by the band's pyrotechnics in 2003.
As much previously reported, during a gig at the Station club in the Rhode Island town of West Warwick in February 2003, onstage pyrotechnics sparked a fire that killed more than 100 people, including the band's guitarist Ty Longley, and left more than 200 injured. The band have never been charged, but their former manager, Daniel Biechele, was given a four year sentence in 2004 after he pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Over the years, dozens of defendants have been named on lawsuits over the blaze, including the club's owners, Jeffrey and Michael Derderian; Clear Channel, whose WHJY-FM radio station had pre-promoted the show; foam companies, who manufactured the foam insulation substance which had been used by the club's owners as sound proofing, and which caused the quick spreading of the fire; and the local fire marshal who failed to tell the club to remove the foam.
Roughly $175 million has been offered in settlements, including $10 million last month from Rhode Island and West Warwick authorities. Now the band themselves are offering $1 million to survivors and relatives of those who died, according to court papers filed on Tuesday, although they still do not admit any wrongdoing. They maintain, as they have done from the outset, that they had permission to use the pyrotechnics, which the club's owners have always denied.
As various smaller lawsuits have been settled over the last year, families of the victims have all but lost the chance of a larger trial, which it was hoped would answer the many questions raised about the circumstances of the fire. Chris Fontaine, whose son was killed and daughter was injured in the fire, told the Associated Press: "I just feel that we're never going to get the answers we need that would put some of this to rest for us". She added that she thought the band were "getting off easy".