Digital Extra: The Station Fire

Despite few immediate drastic changes, there is more of an awareness, for example, of fire alarms, sprinklers and escape routes.

11:45 AM EST on Friday, February 20, 2004

BY MARK ARSENAULT
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- One year after The Station nightclub fire, is Rhode Island any safer?

Top fire officials say Rhode Islanders are keeping themselves safer by paying attention to exits, sprinklers and escape routes whenever they enter a public place.

Also, a round of inspections ordered by Governor Carcieri after the fire identified thousands of potential hazards in places of public assembly.

And new state fire codes take effect today, the anniversary of the deadliest fire in Rhode Island history, the disaster last Feb. 20 that killed 100 people.

But many safety steps approved last year have yet to take full effect, and fire officials say that new regulations will need time to work.

Will you "see some drastic changes immediately? Probably not," said William Howe, inspections chief for the state fire marshal's office. "There will be different standards used. Obviously it takes some time [for inspectors] to get around to all these places. And the law provided for the phasing in of certain equipment.

"So I'm not sure you're going to see any immediate change. I don't see how anybody would see that."

Journal photo / Bob Thayer IT'S UP TO CODE: Ben Nascenzi, Cranston building inspector, approves of the height of the awning at the Mardi Gras nightclub. "The awning here was too low," he says. "Now it's the proper height ... The owner did an excellent job of making the changes we requested."

Other safety measures are still pending:

The state fire marshal received money and authorization to hire more people in the state budget approved last July, but hasn't yet filled those jobs.

Carcieri's spokesman, Jeff Neal, said the fire marshal and the Department of Administration created a civil-service test for the jobs, and that the last of the applicants completed the test earlier this week.

"A certified list of applicants will be finalized by Monday, based on their exam results," Neal said. "We will then be in the position to begin hiring."

Nine new positions are to be filled: two investigators, a senior inspector and six inspectors, according to the fire marshal's office.

The General Assembly passed a law eight months ago requiring fire sprinklers in many places of public assembly, but few sprinkler systems have been installed, and the state's hospitality association questions whether the installation deadlines in the law can be met.

The new laws give fire marshals authority to write tickets for code violations, but the ticketing system isn't ready.

Nighttime inspections required by the new law have not been scheduled yet, and can't be until the new inspectors are hired, according to state Fire Marshal Irving J. Owens.

Owens agreed that the new fire codes are not likely to produce major changes right away. "But minor things, you will see -- more exit signs, probably more fire alarms, emergency lights -- things like that," he said.

"I don't think it will be that noticeable; it's going to take [inspectors] a few weeks to write them up, because it just takes that long to go into the buildings and make sure they cite everything that has to be completed."

The new fire code eliminates the grandfather clause that had exempted older buildings from modern safety standards. The grandfather exemption held many older buildings to the standards of the state's 1968 fire code. In place of the exemption, Rhode Island last year adopted the National Fire Protection Association's standards for new and existing buildings.

Robert Solomon, a NFPA assistant vice president, said the elimination of the grandfather clause was "one of the single biggest things" the state could have done for fire safety.

The NFPA code adopted in place of the grandfather clause recognizes that the old fire code might have been state-of-the-art in the 1960s, but since then "we've learned a lot of difficult and hard lessons."

Some older buildings will be required to have a fire-alarm system that automatically transmits a signal to the local fire department, he said. The code is also going to "address criteria surrounding the exits," such as the spacing and location of exits, and travel distances to exits.

"The limitations for the travel path to the exits usually can become a sticking point for some of the existing buildings," he said. "It will be those sorts of things that probably will pop up more on the radar screen."

Susan Arnold, the CEO of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, said that some inspectors working with the new codes for the first time are coming up with different interpretations.

"What we're finding is, from community to community, these regulations are being implemented with some inconsistencies," she said.

"This is a very ambitious plan, done with the best of intentions, and people are doing the very best they can to learn about this and implement it in time, but the clock is ticking, and its ticking away at a rate that people are not able to keep up with at this point.

"It's not so much there's a villain here, it's just that people have the risk of having regulations enforced against them, and it would be great to have someone on the record saying, 'If you own an apartment building, this is what you have to do.' "

Tom Coffey, the director of the state's Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review, said that inspectors each have had 40 hours of training in the new codes, and are ready to begin enforcement today. The board and the fire marshal's office are clarifying specific questions as they come up, he said.

"We're trying as quickly as possible to tie up any loose ends."

THE OWNER of the Mardi Gras nightclub in Cranston, John Readey, had been thinking about adding sprinklers to his club, but it always seemed like there was another concern to address, and sprinklers were put off to another day.

When The Station burned down, "I decided that was the day," Readey said. "It hit me right between the eyes." He started seeking estimates for sprinklers before the General Assembly even began to debate the new requirements.

Installing sprinklers in the 15,000-square-foot club was a six-month process, complicated by stubborn bedrock in the path of the new water line to feed the system, Readey said.

Total cost: $80,000.

His advice to other club owners: "Get multiple estimates, use someone reputable.

"It's a daunting expense," Readey acknowledged, "but it gives you peace of mind once you're done."

Clubs holding more than 300 people must have sprinklers by mid-2005, under the law. Smaller clubs have an extra year in which to comply. Clubs that hold fewer than 150 people are exempt.

By pursuing sprinklers immediately, Readey doesn't have to worry about a July 1, 2004, deadline in the new fire laws, which triggers a 20-percent reduction in maximum occupancy for places of public assembly that need sprinklers under the code, but which haven't installed them yet.

Dale Venturini, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association, said the occupancy penalty is a "Catch-22." A smaller capacity reduces a business' ability to afford an investment in sprinklers, she said.

She recommends that businesses call to arrange inspections from local fire marshals as soon as possible, and document the calls to demonstrate their "due diligence," in case they have to appeal to the Fire Safety Code board for more time. "I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't be working toward the goal, but it may be impossible for them to totally be ready by that date," she said.

"Everybody wants to do the right thing. I'm not hearing anybody digging in their heels and saying no. I know there will be some variances filed because some of the stuff will be impossible, based on the old buildings."

Steve Lombardi, an owner of the 1025 Club function hall in Johnston, has until July 2005 to install sprinklers in his business. His sprinkler system is currently being designed, he said. The hall has events scheduled years ahead, and cannot close down for long periods, which probably will lengthen the time it takes to complete the installation.

He said he expects to petition for more time and to restore his maximum occupancy, which has been cut since the fire.

Coffey, the fire-board director, said "the board is always open to cases of hardship," and will consider good-faith efforts to meet the deadlines when evaluating appeals for more time.

Ron Pierce, vice president of Pierce Fire Protection Services, of Coventry, installed the sprinkler system in Mardi Gras. It is the only one Pierce has installed in a nightclub since the fire, he said.

Installing sprinklers can take as little as a month in a small building, to six months or more in a large one, he said. "There are so many things you can't control."

Water-flow tests, for example, can't be done when the weather is too cold, he said. Fire departments often get backed up and delayed in approving plans. And the installation needs to fit around the schedule of the business' operations.

The state's top fire officials agree that the hard lesson of The Station disaster has made Rhode Islanders safer.

"We've heard from a lot of people who have said that in the past, a fire alarm may have gone off in the building and they may have seen it as an inconvenience, they may have delayed egress until somebody told them they had to leave," said Howe, from the fire marshal's office. "I've heard a lot of people say that their mind is changed about that -- there's no more delay. They think about it more often now."

Marshal Owens said: "I believe it's safer because of the awareness, because the people are talking more about it, they're more conscious about it and that's a good thing."

Governor Carcieri believes that Rhode Island has become a safer state, "but the governor realizes that this is an ongoing process, which is not complete," Neal said. "This is a process that will continue in the coming months and years."

AFTER THE FIRE, The Journal began compiling a list of names of people who may have been in The Station.

In September, the Journal published a list of 412 people who had been in the fire, according to legal documents, survivors and others. In response to that, more survivors came forward. By early December, The Journal's list had 432 names.

The Journal also sued Governor Carcieri after the governor declined to release the names of everyone who was at the fire known by his office. In late December, Carcieri announced he would release a list of survivors who had contacted the governor's office. The Journal is continuing in court to get the other names from Carcieri of people who may have been at The Station the night it was destroyed.

Based on the list the governor provided in January, 8 names have been added to the newspaper's list, bringing the total to 440. Interviews with survivors indicate the total is higher than that. Several survivors said they were keeping secret the names of friends who do not want to come forward.

In all, Journal reporters have interviewed 213 of the 340 known survivors of The Station fire.

With reports from Paul Edward Parker.

DIGITAL EXTRA: Look back at The Station fire and its impact, recap coverage, find changes in the law, visit a memorial to its victims, post condolences, and more, at:

http://projo.com/extra/2003/stationfire/