PROVIDENCE -- Every weekend, the city's nightclubs and bars are getting surprise visits from fire inspectors and the police, checking for overcrowding and underage drinking.
Every week night, fire inspectors are dropping by the local nightspots, keeping an eye on possible fire hazards.
Every day, building and fire inspectors are combing through records and conducting thorough inspections of restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other areas of public assembly.
The inspections were spurred statewide after the tragic fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick. Here, though, these inspections will have far-reaching implications. In a city where regular, thorough inspections have been a rare occurrence, the inspectors are laying ground for annual full inspections, as well as making permanent the system of spot-checks .
"It's going to be a fact of life. How can we let it go?" said Carl Calicchia, deputy director of building systems at the Department of Inspections and Standards.
The process is taking time. The fire inspectors have gone through about 55 places, and building inspectors have investigated about 65. There are hundreds of places of public assembly in the city, from churches to private clubs, to restaurants, bars, theaters and auditoriums. Meanwhile, there's always construction projects that need review, and always fires that need investigating.
"Really, the job will never be finished," said Edgar Paxson, the director of the Department of Inspections and Standards.
As the fire and building inspectors work, they say the doors are opening before them.
"The people working in this division are extremely happy with what they've heard from the leadership at the Fire Department and the city," said Deputy Fire Marshal George Farrell. "We know it's a tough job, and they're getting support and getting no interference from anybody, on any level."
Paxson said the same. "What I'm most impressed with is the cooperation we're getting," he said.
The inspectors said they're fielding requests from business owners, asking them to check their establishments. Some are taking note at what the inspectors are looking for -- clear passageways, roomy exits, working emergency lights and fire alarms, fire-retardant furnishings -- and fixing problems even before the inspectors can finish their reports.
Some problems can be corrected quickly. What takes time is the amount of research needed to make sure the establishments are up to code.
They're finding that at many places the use or the layout -- an added wall, an extension of the bar, perhaps a restaurant adds entertainment -- has changed in the years since the last inspection, Paxson said. The changes mean the establishment has to be brought back up to code.
The inspections have resulted in the temporary closing of nightclubs, restaurants and other businesses statewide, including the health club where Mayor David N. Cicilline works out each morning.
The World Gym in the Wanskuck Mills Complex on Branch Avenue reopened this week after being forced to close March 13 by request of the attorney general's consumer protection unit. A fire inspector cited numerous violations, including problems with the fire-alarm system, areas that weren't covered by the sprinkler system, some missing exit signs, blocked passageways and emergency lighting that didn't work.
Al Soucie, the gym's owner, said yesterday that he hired contractors who worked five days straight to upgrade the emergency systems and fix the exits. Superior Court Associate Justice Francis J. Darigan Jr. lifted the injunction on Wednesday.
An Olneyville nightclub was allowed to reopen this week under several restrictions while it corrects exit problems, installs a sprinkler system, and connects a fire-alarm system to the Fire Department. The state Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review decided to allow Therapy, on Dike Street, to reopen, provided it reduces its occupancy by one-third, to 100 people, and hires a firefighter when the nightclub is open until the violations are corrected.
Snooker's Cafe & Billiard, on Clifford Street, is posting a firefighter and voluntarily relinquishing its entertainment license while it fixes exit problems, said Farrell. "He said, 'I'll do whatever you want me to do,' " Farrell said.
Other nightclubs, bars and restaurants should be on notice -- unannounced nightly visits are now the norm.
Last weekend, as they have done for the last month, fire inspectors and police officers in the license bureau dropped by several bars and nightclubs unannounced. The police were looking for underage drinkers. The fire inspectors were looking for overcrowding and other fire hazards.
The visits last weekend included Gerardo's, KAMP, The Keg Room, Splinters, the University Pub, Nobody's, Snookers, the Art Bar and AS220, Farrell said. Some they'd visited before. Some, he said, they'll be visiting again.
The inspectors will check at least 10 more places this weekend, he said.
As for the weeknight visits, Providence Fire Marshal David Costa has made it mandatory for inspectors to check up on two places each shift. Those visits are meant to see what the nightspots are like when they're busy, Farrell said. Any problems, and the fire marshal and police will be called in, he said.
Meanwhile, some people going out on the town are calling the fire inspectors first to make sure their destination has been inspected, Farrell said. Some are parents who are concerned about nightclubs where their children go, he said.
"I don't think there's a place people have called about that we haven't looked into," Farrell said.
