PROVIDENCE -- With the financial cost of The Station fire projected to be $8.7 million over the first year, Governor Carcieri is again asking President Bush to declare the fire a "major disaster," which would bring aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Some long-range cost estimates for the Feb. 20 fire that killed 99 people and injured about 190 "exceed a hundred million dollars," Carcieri wrote to the president, "partially because of the enormous costs associated with long-term disability and care of burn victims."
The president last month turned down Carcieri's initial request for a disaster declaration for the West Warwick nightclub fire. Carcieri appealed that decision in a March 25 letter to the president, sent through Daniel Craig, FEMA's regional director in Boston.
The president is authorized to declare federal disasters under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief Act, which states, in part, that a major disaster must be beyond the capacity of state and local governments to effectively manage.
Carcieri originally applied for the declaration four days after the fire. "We had not yet accumulated the costs, didn't have a real good handle on what it would be," he said yesterday. "And like anything else, when you make an immediate request without a lot of information -- because at that point we hadn't developed it -- you get a fast answer."
After projecting the costs and meeting with Craig, the FEMA regional director, "We're now more encouraged that they understand the impact of this on our state, and that the magnitude of it is much greater than someone might have thought initially," Carcieri said.
Carcieri, in his appeal to the president, is seeking access to public and individual assistance programs, such as unemployment benefits, crisis counseling, uninsured medical costs and money for other unmet needs.
"We took a decision [to appeal] based on conversations we've had with the regional office" of FEMA, he said. "They have a team of their people down here working with our staff to accumulate the facts, the costs and all the different projections."
The fire "is a very unusual circumstance," Carcieri said. "We're trying to appeal to the special nature of what happened to us, even if it might be outside of the actual wording of the Stafford Act.
"I think we qualify, in my judgment, given the uniqueness of this. I think there are some programs that can help us." The state was "encouraged to appeal," Carcieri said, though he has received no assurances that the plea will be successful.
"There's no certainty here," he said. "I have no guarantees whatsoever."
Much of the financial costs of the fire is in uncompensated care provided by Rhode Island hospitals. Twenty-three of 38 survivors still hospitalized do not have insurance, Carcieri wrote to the president. A total of 65 people hurt were uninsured, he wrote.
Rhode Island hospitals have so far provided about $2 million in uncompensated care to fire victims. The governor projects those costs will double over the next year.
"The reality is, this is a big cost, and some of these people are going to be hospitalized for months," he said. "Then you have physical therapy beyond that. The recovery period for the individuals that have been either badly burned or suffered respiratory damage from that fire is going to be very expensive."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has already committed to providing a "one-time allocation" to help pay for some uncompensated care, Carcieri said. Those discussions are ongoing and he did not know how much money would be available, he said.
Fire costs to date, which total about $4 million, include $746,000 in state expenses and $319,000 in municipal spending, Carcieri wrote to the president. Crisis counseling may cost $500,000 over the next year, he said. That counseling may be needed by people directly affected by the fire, as well as the police, fire and rescue teams, and hospital workers. "There are counseling costs that are going to go on beyond a year," he said.
The state has projected another $4.7 million in fire-related costs over the next year. "It probably will exceed that, that's our best guess right now," Carcieri said. Projected costs include $1.9 million in unemployment and $200,000 in business assistance.
The victim's assistance charitable fund has already paid for $332,000 in funeral expenses and provided $100,000 in other assistance to fire victims and their families. Teams of specialists from the federal government who helped identify the bodies and care for burn victims provided the state about $500,000 in services.
"One of the biggest issues is loss of income for families," Carcieri said. He reported that 25 of the people who died in the fire were "head of household financial providers." The blaze put 115 victims out of work.
"In some case, both parents were lost and children have been orphaned," he said. "So you have income issues with the families that are affected going forward."
The state made its "best guess" of costs for the next year, but "I wouldn't be surprised if there are other costs going beyond that," he said.
FEMA Director Joe M. Allbaugh said in a Feb. 27 letter to Carcieri that the fire did not qualify for a disaster declaration under the Stafford Act because "an effective response does not appear to exceed the combined capabilities of the state and local governments."
Asked about that standard, Carcieri said, "Right now every state including ours is strapped. Collectively the situation of the states is the worst situation since after World War II.
"It's not like there are a lot of extra funds we can tap into. This is having a significant impact."
The Stafford Act wasn't designed to deal with such a fire, Carcieri said. "There needs to be actions on Congress' part to expand the Stafford Act with a little more flexibility to take into account this kind of incident or, God forbid, a terrorist attack with a similar consequences. The Stafford Act doesn't cover that." It is better designed to handle natural disasters and weather emergencies, he said.
In fact, the president this week declared an emergency for Rhode Island for a February snowstorm, opening federal assistance for state government and communities in Providence and Washington Counties to recoup some snow-related costs that have depleted snow-removal budgets, the White House announced.
The storm occurred Feb. 17-18, two days before the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history destroyed The Station.
