ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press
Providence, R.I.

The brothers who owned a Rhode Island nightclub where a fire killed 100 people seven years ago will appear at a safety seminar in Pennsylvania this month to offer their most detailed discussion of the disaster since it happened.

Jeffrey and Michael Derderian will speak Feb. 24 at the fifth annual Pennsylvania Amusement Ride Safety Seminar in Grantville, Pa., according to an announcement on the Web site of a charity the brothers created to raise money for children whose parents died in the fire.

Organizers say the Derderians won't be paid for their appearance.

The address, their first joint public appearance since they were sentenced in 2006, will come just days after the seventh anniversary of the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick. The blaze began when pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap foam the Derderians installed as soundproofing.

Besides the 100 killed, more than 200 others were injured in the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.

The Derderians pleaded no contest in September 2006 to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Jeffrey Derderian was spared prison time; his brother was released last June after serving less than three years of his four-year sentence. He said at the time that he wanted to share his experiences publicly in hopes of preventing a similar disaster.

The brothers will address several hundred amusement park inspectors and operators and other industry professionals from around the country, said Phil Slaggert, an organizer of the seminar who invited the Derderians.

"They have firsthand knowledge from an owner's perspective of a very tragic and unique incident in U.S. history, and I think our participants could benefit from hearing that firsthand," said Slaggert, president of the Mobile Midway Safety Institute in Florida.

Slaggert said he expected the Derderians to discuss the fire but didn't know exactly what they would say.

The brothers have never spoken extensively in public about the fire.

At a news conference two days after the disaster, they expressed sorrow and said they had been unaware that pyrotechnics would be used. And they said at their sentencing hearing that they regretted using the foam and hadn't known before the fire that it was so dangerous.

But many victim' relatives say they feel the Derderians have never shown enough remorse for their actions or have tried to pass blame onto others.

"I don't see them as being capable of telling the people about safety," said James Gahan, whose son, Jimmy, died in the fire. "I think their credibility is suspect."

He said the Derderians had shown no concern for safety in operating the club, which was packed well beyond legal capacity the night of the fire.

Jeffrey Derderian said in a statement that the brothers would "share our experiences before, during and after the fire so that others can learn from the mistakes from the mistakes that led to the fire." Michael Derderian said in a separate statement that the brothers would stress that "even those with professional training like inspectors and building officials can miss things." The comment was a reference to the multiple inspections that were done before the fire in which the soundproofing foam was never cited as illegal or flammable.

The brothers, along with friend Jody King, who lost a brother in the fire, formed The Station Education Fund in 2007 to raise money for the education costs of the several dozen children who lost parents in the fire.

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