WEST WARWICK, R.I. (AP) -- Members of a grand jury investigating the fire that consumed a nightclub have heard from at least one member of the band that was performing when the deadly blaze broke out.

As he prepared to board a plane at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick on Tuesday, Great White guitarist Mark Kendall told WBZ-TV that he had testified briefly and expected to return.

Investigators have said the Feb. 20 fire at The Station nightclub started when sparks from the band's pyrotechnic display ignited polyurethane foam used as soundproofing. The blaze killed 98 people and injured more than 180.

As investigators try to figure out what went wrong, experts say fire inspectors responsible for guarding against such tragedies are overworked and are rarely as thorough as they should be.

``The state fire marshal's office is grossly undermanned, and so is every fire prevention division in the state,'' said East Providence Fire Chief Gerald A. Bessette. ``Until that changes, things are going to go undetected. That's the sad truth.''

The grand jury met Tuesday at a National Guard facility in East Greenwich, but it was not clear when it would resume its work; prosecutors have not reserved the camp again until March 26, according to a source close to the investigation.

On Tuesday, Kendall and Great White bassist David Filice were seen leaving the facility.

The band's lawyer, Ed McPherson, would say only that band members are cooperating fully. The members have said they had permission to use the fireworks; the club's owners say permission wasn't sought or given.

An attorney for relatives of two of the fire victims filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday naming members of the band, as well as the club's owners and West Warwick fire inspector Denis Larocque.

Fire inspection records show Larocque visited the club in December and cited it for a series of code violations, all of which appeared to have been corrected. The documents make no mention of the soundproofing foam, which experts say is 20 times more flammable than wood and emits a dense, toxic smoke.

Larocque has not returned repeated telephone calls and, according to West Warwick's town manager, has not spoken with investigators.

The state's fire inspectors and fire marshals are typically high-ranking officers _ Larocque, 46, is a battalion chief and 25-year veteran of the West Warwick Fire Department.

But turnover is high and few firefighters are willing to devote their careers to fire prevention, said Gary Keith, vice president of regional operations for the Quincy, Mass.-based National Fire Prevention Association, which trains and licenses fire inspectors.

In West Warwick, Larocque is a one-man fire prevention division in a community of 30,000.

``Inspectors are human,'' said North Kingstown Fire Marshal Joseph St. Jean. ``We can't possibly catch everything. I've got a one-hour time slot before I move on to my next inspection.''

Also on Tuesday, the West Warwick Town Council held its first meeting since the nightclub fire. Members privately discussed whether the town could be held responsible for the blaze, but reached no conclusions.