Digital Extra: The Station Fire

05:46 PM EDT on Thursday, August 12, 2004

The Associated Press

BOSTON -- House and Senate lawmakers have re-enacted a bill making sweeping changes to the state's fire code after discovering that an earlier version sent to Gov. Mitt Romney's desk was worded in such a way to make it virtually meaningless.

The bill is intended to require sprinklers in nightclubs and bars with occupancy limits of 100 or more, but was so poorly written that it would have applied to nobody.

Romney, who supports the bill, sent the legislation back to lawmakers with recommended changes to make sure it does what backers intended.

Because the Legislature is in an informal session, the opposition of a single lawmaker could have blocked the bill from being re-enacted. The corrected version was approved without opposition by both chambers and is awaiting Romney's signature.

The bill was filed in the wake of The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I., in February 2003 that killed 100 people.

The bill also includes $10 million for firefighting grants, requires fire safety training for nightclub workers, renews funding for fire safety classes in schools and calls for stricter enforcement.

An earlier version of the bill would have required sprinklers in bars and clubs with occupancy limits of 50 or more. Lawmakers increased the limit to make the bill more palatable to businesses.

The bill would make the most sweeping changes to the state's fire laws since the Cocoanut Grove fire, which killed 492 people in Boston in 1942. That fire prompted changes in fire safety codes across the country.