PROVIDENCE -- Recordings of rescue workers responding to the disastrous
fire at The Station nightclub blend frantic calls with calm statements
of deadly fact as the horror of the scene emerged.
"The Station's on fire. Fully engulfed. Several people trapped inside,"
a West Warwick police staffer said tersely on one of 277 telephone calls
and radio communications released today by the state attorney general's
office.
A rescue worker said, "We have multiple people trapped. We're just
dragging them out, one by one."
"We've got a stampede," says another rescue worker.
"We need multiple rescues," another says.
"There are a lot of walking wounded. Try to corral them and get them to
the Cowesett (Inn), where we're triaging," one official directs another.
The 3.5 hours of recordings were made or taken by the West Warwick
Police Department's dispatchers in the hours following the Feb. 20 fire
at the West Warwick club that killed 100 people and injured about 200
others.
They include conversations among police, firefighters and other
emergency workers, as well as media inquiries. They do not include calls
made by club patrons or other civilians.
The tapes reveal a pair of West Warwick police staffers keeping their
cool as they field calls and direct rescuers to the scene.
"We need as many people down there as possible," one told an off-duty
lieutenant calling the police station.
"We're going to be transporting multiple people to the hospital,"
another said when asked if nurses were needed at the scene. "They're
going to be needed at the hospital."
Fire wasn't the only safety concern for the rescuers as the tapes also
recall police officers warning each other to be careful of black ice on
the cold winter's night and downed wires.
As the night develops, the impact of the fire becomes clearer.
West Warwick Police Capt. Stephen Boulton, sounding calm and efficient
despite the chaos swirling around him, receives a call from an assistant
attorney general, Michael Stone.
"I've been watching the news. Obviously, it looks like there might be
some criminality here," Stone tells Boulton.
Stone tells Boulton that he and another assistant attorney general are
heading for the scene. Bolton tells Stone he can arrange a ride for him
from the police station.
A grand jury is now investigating the fire, which started when the band
Great White's pyrotechnics ignited highly flammable foam that had been
placed around the club's stage as soundproofing. Thick smoke quickly
spread through the one-story, wooden building trapping patrons as they
tried to flee.
In another call, Boulton explains to a staffer from the emergency room
at Roger Williams Hospital that the department was trying to compile a
list of victims and their injuries "so we can provide basic information
to the relatives.
"We've been getting hundreds of phone calls here," Boulton says.
The Attorney General's Office said eight of the recordings were edited
to delete some sensitive information, such as the identification of
victims or phone numbers.
By state law, 911 calls are not public information and were not released.
The state also released two Fire Department incident reports, including
an eight-page document listing people killed and hurt in the fire.
The transmissions' release was ordered yesterday by Kent County Superior
Court Judge Mark Pfeiffer after The Providence Journal filed a lawsuit
in March seeking more information about what happened at The Station.
The Journal had sought the records from the Town of West Warwick, and
sued after the town refused to provide them.
Attorneys for the newspaper and the state spent months working on an
agreement to release documents that would not interfere with a criminal
investigation into the blaze. That agreement was approved yesterday by
the judge's ruling.
Pfeiffer ruled yesterday that the material was presumed to be open under
the Public Records Act, and that it was up to Atty. Gen. Patrick C.
Lynch's office to provide evidence that the material should be kept
secret.
"I think it is appropriate that The Providence Journal obtain this
information," Pfeiffer said.
West Warwick Town Solicitor Tim Williamson objected to releasing the
police transmissions, saying the information could create increased
publicity and may affect the town's right to a fair trial. The town has
been named in several lawsuits.
"Ensuring the integrity of the investigation is the yardstick by which
we've measured and will continue to measure inquiries for information,"
Lynch said in a statement. "We won't swerve from our goal of conducting
an exhaustive investigation to determine whether a crime or crimes
occurred."
The office has been hesitant to release information to the public during
its criminal probe. State law bars the attorney general from discussing
an ongoing investigation.
Fire and building inspection reports and other documents regarding the
club have been released by the town of West Warwick. Requests for that
paperwork came from reporters and civil attorneys compiling lawsuits on
behalf of fire survivors and victims' families.
-- With reports from The Associated Press
DIGITAL EXTRA:
Listen to audio clips of several rescue calls, drawn from the recordings
released today.
