PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The federal agency investigating the 2003 blaze that killed 100 people in a Rhode Island nightclub has scaled back a recommendation that sprinklers be installed in every nightclub.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology on Wednesday issued its final report on the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick. The flames were touched off when sparks from a rock band's pyrotechnics display ignited flammable soundproofing material.
The final report recommends that sprinkler systems be installed in all new nightclubs and in existing clubs with a capacity of more than 100 people. A draft version issued in early March recommended the installation of sprinkler systems in all nightclubs, regardless of size.
''It's important to get sprinklers installed in as many places as possible,'' said William Grosshandler, chief of the institute's fire research division. He said there would be ''considerable'' resistance if officials sought to install them everywhere.
Grosshandler said the institute rolled back the recommendations to conform to national fire-safety standards.
The final report added a new recommendation calling on states and communities to adopt fire safety codes based on national models. It also urged states to conduct aggressive safety inspections and to ensure enough fire inspectors are available.
''Adopting the model codes is the first step, but unless you go beyond that and have the inspection and the enforcement, it really doesn't help much,'' Grosshandler said.
Other recommendations call for increased restrictions on the use of flammable materials inside nightclubs; research on human behavior in emergency situations; and for a study to determine the minimum number of fire extinguishers needed in nightclubs.
Rhode Island, which passed a sweeping fire safety law after the blaze, has already adopted many of the recommendations outlined in the report.
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