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 PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) _ Investigators are looking at the air conditioning system at The Station nightclub to determine whether it helped push thick, black smoke through the club, slowing
concertgoers as they attempted to flee.
   Attorney General Patrick Lynch said his team was looking at the air conditioning system, including the fans and ducts, as part of the criminal probe into the Feb. 20 blaze that killed 100 people.
   ``It's one of a whole menu of things that we're addressing,'' he told The Associated Press.
   Lynch wouldn't elaborate on The Station's air conditioning system or specifics of the investigation.
   Air conditioners can be equipped with automatic shut-off valves so when smoke gets into the vents it doesn't flow through the system.
   The state fire code says a fire alarm system ``shall be interconnected to the building's heating, air conditioning and ventilating controls so that the fans 2,000 cfm or greater capacity ... shall automatically shut down anytime, other than drills and when testing, that the fire alarm system is actuated.''
   Joseph LaFontaine said he upgraded the fire alarm system at The Station in March 2000, before brothers Jeffrey and Michael Derderian purchased the club. He visited the club semiannually to
test the system _ the last time was September 2002.
   LaFontaine said the fire alarm system at the nightclub was not connected to the air conditioning system.
   ``But it wasn't required to,'' LaFontaine said, because the building was constructed before the new rules requiring an automatic shut-off went into effect.
   ``Today's standards are much higher than they used to be,'' he
said.
   Telephone calls to state officials familiar with fire code were not immediately returned Friday. It was not immediately known whether The Station would have been required to have the automatic
shut-off system, or whether it would've been exempt due to ``grandfather'' laws.
   Witnesses said dense, black smoke filled the club soon after sparks from a band's pyrotechnic display set fire to polyurethane foam surrounding the stage. Video footage recorded by a television
cameraman at the West Warwick nightclub that night also showed black smoke billowing from the building.
   Survivors of the fire have said the smoke prevented them from seeing exits.
   ``I've heard stories of eyes burning, tearing. Just the sheer density of the smoke blocking any light was a problem,'' said attorney Steven Minicucci, who represents survivors of the fire.
``Some people became disoriented to even where the exit was.''
   Death certificates showed some victims died as a result of smoke inhalation, Minicucci said.
   ``The toxicity of the fire was an issue in the smoke inhalation,'' he said.
   Autopsy reports have been completed by the medical examiner but the office is withholding the results because of the criminal investigation, said spokeswoman Carol Capron.
   Max Wistow, an attorney leading litigation stemming from the fire, said his team is also looking at the air conditioning system as part of a private investigation to determine whether product manufacturers may be liable for the fire's rapid spread.