Digital Extra: The Station Fire

07/25/2004

In the shadow of death
The Rev. Gary Lemery's epiphany came when he saw people suffering after a plane crashed on Block Island nine summers ago.

07/23/2004

Station fire lawsuit names 46 defendants
The largest civil lawsuit in the aftermath of The Station nightclub fire was filed in state Superior Court yesterday, naming 46 defendants including foam manufacturers, the club owners and officials for the Town of West Warwick.

Judge splits ruling on Station files
PROVIDENCE -- One fire marshal's report and certain police and fire calls related to The Station nightclub fire should be made public, but other recorded calls and hundreds of pages of government documents should remain secret, a Superior Court...

07/22/2004

Massive lawsuit filed on Station fire victims' behalf
Updated 1:32 p.m.
PROVIDENCE -- A 70-count civil lawsuit was filed this morning in Superior Court on behalf of 226 people who died, lost loved ones or were injured in The Station nightclub fire -- by far the largest suit stemming from the worst blaze in the state's history.

07/18/2004

Report faults R.I. emergency planning
PROVIDENCE -- Deficiencies in the state's Emergency Management Agency, cited last week by a consultant, should have come as no surprise to the Carcieri administration, which for 10 months has kept secret another critical assessment of the state's...

07/17/2004

Harrah's seeks a break from state fire code
Harrah's Entertainment wants an exemption from the state fire code for its proposed West Warwick casino, according to a document the company distributed last month to members of the House of Representatives.

07/16/2004

Agency ripped in fire report was the first to propose it
The state Emergency Management Agency, which was sharply criticized in a report this week for its handling of the Station fire last year, was the first to suggest that an outside agency conduct such a study.

07/15/2004

Agency leaders defend response to Station fire
PROVIDENCE -- Leaders of the state Emergency Management Agency yesterday defended the agency's performance on the night of The Station fire, rebutting some of the major points in a consultant's blistering critique but echoing the call for more...

Medical examiner death records incomplete
The Rhode Island medical examiner's response in the hours after The Station nightclub fire has left officials with an incomplete record of where many of the 96 bodies were found in the rubble.

Corrections
A photo caption in yesterday's Journal gave the wrong job title for Dr. David Harrington. He is a trauma surgeon at Rhode Island Hospital.

Council candidate is miffed that Station fire report didn't single her out for praise
WEST WARWICK -- A candidate for Town Council says it's unfair that a report evaluating various agencies' response to The Station nightclub fire contains no mention of her efforts while praising those of her opponent, Councilman Leo J....

07/14/2004 Carcieri orders review of critique PROVIDENCE -- The emergency system designed to manage Rhode Island's response to disaster failed when the need was greatest, during the fire at The Station nightclub, the deadliest ever on Rhode Island soil.

Chief bars firefighters from study
Consultants say they will never know exactly what happened in the first critical minutes of The Station nightclub fire because the West Warwick fire chief prohibited his firefighters from participating in its study.

Emergency Management Agency failed to fulfill role
PROVIDENCE -- The state's Emergency Management Agency was supposed to serve as the nerve center for Rhode Island's response to The Station fire, but with inadequate plans, money and equipment, the agency failed to perform some of its most basic...

Transportation, treatment of victims receives praise In the chaos of the nightclub fire, Leo Kennedy was in charge of evaluating burn victims and sending them in ambulances to hospitals around the state.

AG's department criticized for not sharing information While some state agencies are criticized head-on in the Station fire report made public yesterday, the attorney general's office takes glancing blows over its unwillingness, according to the report's authors, to share information with outside...

Lack of common radio frequencies cited as weakness
PROVIDENCE -- The call for help went out statewide after pyrotechnics plunged The Station nightclub into a scene of chaos and mass casualties. But once hundreds of rescuers responded to the scene, it was hard for them to talk to each other.

Volunteer singled out for helping families Leo Costantino is an ex-Marine, a Vietnam veteran. But nothing had prepared him for the suffering he saw in the days following The Station nightclub fire.

People, agencies praised
These are some of the people and agencies praised in the report for their actions during The Station fire:

The report at a glance
What worked:

07/13/2004

Report: Blaze highlights need for better emergency coordination
Updated 4:26 p.m.
PROVIDENCE -- The state's emergency management system "failed to function effectively" during The Station nightclub fire and needs to be improved, according to a consultant's report into the tragedy that killed 100 people and injured more than 200.

Consultant to critique Station response
PROVIDENCE --

Judge urges lawyers to reach agreement on fire evidence
PROVIDENCE -- A judge yesterday urged lawyers to try to reach an agreement about how to protect and preserve the evidence that's being used in The Station fire criminal case so it can be used later in lawsuits.

State fire marshal facing challenger
PROVIDENCE -- State Fire Marshal Irving J. Owens is facing a challenge from within his own ranks, by a longtime deputy who says it's time for "new thinking" in the top job in the marshal's office.

07/12/2004

Judge to Station fire lawyers: Work out evidence concerns together
Updated 6:28 p.m.
PROVIDENCE -- The judge overseeing the criminal case stemming from The Station nightclub fire assured lawyers for those affected by the blaze that evidence will be preserved for their use but declined today to make a formal ruling.

07/09/2004

New fire law enforcement slow to start
PROVIDENCE -- A deadline for the 2003 fire code overhaul, cutting the legal occupancies of nightclubs that have no sprinklers, passed quietly last week, on July 1, apparently without widespread enforcement.

07/02/2004

Great White singer alleges ex-publicist slandered him
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The lead singer of Great White, the band whose pyrotechnic stage show started a fire that killed 100 people in West Warwick, has sued a former publicist for slander.

07/01/2004

Great White's Russell sues ex-publicist for slander
Updated 10:22 a.m.
LOS ANGELES -- The lead singer of the band Great White, whose pyrotechnics sparked a blaze that killed 100 people at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island, has sued a former publicist for slander.