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U.S. NEWS Monday 22 May 2017
Memorial park opens at site of nightclub fire where 100 died

WEST WARWICK, R.I. (AP)
— Hundreds gathered Sun-
day at the opening of a
memorial park at the site
of a 2003 nightclub fire in
Rhode Island that killed 100
people.At least 500 peo-
ple, including loved ones
of the victims, local leaders
and state officials walked
into the Station Fire Memo-
rial Park for the ceremony.
The park was formally ded-
icated to the victims of
The Station nightclub fire in
West Warwick.The Feb. 20,
2003, blaze began when
pyrotechnics for the rock
band Great White ignited
flammable foam that lined
the club’s walls as sound-
proofing. It was engulfed Workers finalize details at a memorial in West Warwick, R.I., on Friday, May 19, 2017, at the site of
within seconds. More than The Station nightclub fire that killed 100 and injured more than 200 people in 2003. The memorial
200 people were injured. is scheduled to open during a ceremony Sunday.
Relatives of those killed Associated Press
and fire survivors have morial and maintain it.The and the first responders and day. The victims’ names
worked for more than a one-acre park includes a people who helped that were read aloud..q
decade to build a perma- courtyard, gardens and
nent memorial at the site, granite monuments with
which for years was over- the names and birthdays
grown with weeds and of every victim.
dotted with handmade Former Gov. Don Carcieri
crosses, weather-beaten called the fire the “state’s
stuffed animals and per- worst tragedy.”“Being
sonal memorabilia left by here today...causes all the
victims’ loved ones. memories, all the emo-
Gina Russo, president of tions of that terrible night
the Station Fire Memorial to wash back over us all
Foundation, was among again,” he said Sunday.
the attendees Sunday. She “The raw pain, sadness and
lost her fiancé, Fred Crisos- heartbreak of losing loved
tomi, in the blaze and was ones so unexpectedly lives
severely burned. She has with us always.”At the cer-
spent the years since re- emony, 100 high school
covering and undergoing students each carried a
numerous surgeries while rose for the victims. The ser-
also working to maintain vice featured live music,
her health insurance and and attendees were asked
trying to raise the money to remember the survivors,
needed to build the me- relatives of those who died