On Feb. 21, the day after flames shot through The Station nightclub, Warwick Police Chief Stephen McCartney walked through the ruins with his West Warwick counterpart, Peter T. Brousseau.
McCartney hadn't seen anything like it since his military days in Vietnam. Every few minutes, rescue workers paused and said a prayer as another body was discovered.
"When it became apparent, the enormity of tragedy and the fact that this was going to require an immense investigational effort, I promised Chief Brousseau that I would support him a hundred percent," McCartney said. "The fact that there were a number of Warwick residents that were victims increased the sense of moral and ethical duty here to support the investigation."
He fulfilled his promise.
Warwick devoted three police officers to the continuing probe. Two of them, Detective Sgt. Michael Ford and Detective Michael Turner have returned to their duties in Warwick, but Detective Janice M. Sassy remains with The Station investigation.
Sassy wasn't on duty the night of the fire, so she wasn't among the 25 Warwick officers called to help at the scene. But in the following days, she took up a post at the West Warwick police station. Sassy, Ford and Turner all helped interview club patrons who came in to give a statement.
Assistant Attorney General William Ferland, the lead prosecutor in the criminal case stemming from the blaze, said 42 detectives worked on the investigation in the early weeks. The inquiry required the cooperation of many law enforcement agencies, including the state police and the state fire marshal's office, the West Warwick and Coventry police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. As the investigation wore on, officers peeled away, leaving seven full-time detectives including the three Warwick officers.
Ferland said Warwick didn't just loan three bodies, but three veteran investigators.
"It's nice to bring that level of experience to bear," Ferland said.
Sassy, 49, lives in West Warwick. She joined the Warwick force in 1980 and has spent most of her time in the detective division, right where she likes it.
"I've never taken a promotional test," she said. "I like going to work every day. ... As a uniform [officer], you go out and handle the immediate situation and move on. In detectives, if there are a series of breaks or robberies, you get to work on something longer-term and you get into the dymanics of it. You don't have that luxury in uniform."
The fire investigators interviewed more than 700 people. Sassy said it was a difficult task.
"For a while it was just exhausting. Not the hours, but the stories. There were just so many heroes," she said.
As the investigation evolved, Sassy was assigned to research and interview bands that had played at The Station before the night of the fire. The musicians she met shattered her stereotypes.
"The people who were making their living at it were very intelligent, average people," she said. "They weren't the big party animals that I expected."
On Dec. 9, 10 months after The Station burned, a grand jury issued indictments based on the efforts of the investigators. Indicted were the club owners, brothers Michael A. and Jeffrey A. Derderian, and Daniel M. Biechele, the former tour manager for the band Great White, whose pyrotechnics started the fire.
"Knowing what I know, if I were on the jury, that's what I would have decided," Sassy said.
Investigators continue to reinterview patrons, some of whom who were too sick to talk earlier.
So how long will Sassy stay on The Station investigation?
"My colonel has said as long as I'm needed," she said.
