Experts Wrap Up Rhode Island Club Fire Probe

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Private fire investigators have finished searching the site of a deadly nightclub fire and are briefing civil lawyers on what they found, attorneys said.

Attorney Mark Decof said Tuesday the private investigators were in the process of identifying nearly 500 materials that were found.

Decof and other lawyers representing victims' families and survivors of the fire are interested in materials such as foam and carpeting that may have contributed to the fire's rapid spread.

The Feb. 20 fire killed 99 people and injured nearly 200 more. The blaze started after a band's pyrotechnics display set fire to foam that had been placed on the wall around the stage as soundproofing. The fire engulfed the building within minutes.

``There are some items we know the source of, but there are still many to identify,'' Decof said. The manufacturers and distributors, he said, could be named as defendants in future lawsuits.

Decof, who has not yet filed any lawsuits, said the identification process would take about two weeks.