Nightclub safety training draws big numbers

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)-- Around 100 people have signed up for a free crowd safety training session being offered by the state ahead of the 10th anniversary of a deadly nightclub fire in West Warwick.

Rhode Island's health department says on Monday that's around 10 times the number of people who usually sign up for the training, which is held every two months.

The 4-hour session is planned for Feb. 18, two days before the anniversary of the fire that killed 100 people. Fire codes enacted after the blaze require nightclubs and other places of assembly to employ a trained and licensed crowd manager.

Health spokesman Peter Hanney says the department is cosponsoring the training with the fire marshal and others for the first time in the hopes that more people will get trained.