Digital Extra: The Station Fire

At its first meeting, the House commission studying the Fire Safety Code addresses confusion about the new regulations.

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, April 6, 2004

BY EDWARD FITZPATRICK
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Nightclub.

That's the word state officials had in mind when they adopted new fire codes in response to The Station fire. But when translated into State House gobbledygook, it became a "special amusement building concentrated occupancy place of assembly."

Yesterday, a newly formed House commission heard how the new codes are causing confusion, and in the name of clarity, fire safety officials talked about changing the code to include the term "nightclub" rather than its unwieldy cousin.

The discussion came during the first meeting of a panel burdened by an unwieldy title of its own: the House Oversight Commission to Study the Ramifications of the Fire Safety Code.

"There's confusion at both ends -- with the local fire authorities and with the people trying to bring their properties in line with the new code," said the commission chairman, Rep. Joseph A. Trillo, R-Warwick.

Commission members mentioned several examples. Trillo said he'd heard that one local fire inspector didn't know how to apply the new fire code to a building, so he urged the owner to hire a private engineering firm.

The commission vice chairman, Rep. Peter T. Ginaitt, D-Warwick, said he'd heard that a clown had been deemed the type of "special amusement' that would require having a firefighter in attendance.

State Fire Marshal Irving J. Owens noted that in Lincoln, the Manville Fire District sent letters to restaurants and bars saying, erroneously, that a uniformed firefighter would have to be hired whenever 50 or more people were present, or expected. Owens said he sent a letter to fire chiefs and inspectors across the state clarifying that there is no such blanket requirement.

Ginaitt, a Warwick Fire Department rescue captain who responded to The Station fire, said those are examples of the type of confusion that Rhode Island is trying to avoid as it implements landmark legislation in response to the Feb. 20, 2003, blaze, which claimed 100 lives and injured more than 200 people.

Many businesses are realizing that the law contains sensible requirements that are not as drastic or costly as some had expected, Ginaitt said. Also, many are realizing that the Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal & Review "can deal with a lot of these issues to make sure that places are safe but not put them out of business," he said.

"We knew we'd go through this -- we knew there would be this period of confusion," Ginaitt said. "These are major changes that other places in the country have not had the fortitude to do, and there are going to be growing pains. But we will see this process through."

Trillo said the process might go more smoothly if, when violations are found, inspectors give property owners a brochure explaining their rights.

Tom Coffey, executive director of the Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal & Review, said, "Education is the key -- for the fire marshals and the public."

Coffey noted that leaders of Warwick's Westgate Condominiums changed the occupancy limit in their clubhouse -- from 50 to 49 -- because they thought that would avoid the need for sprinklers. Coffey said that even with a capacity of 50, the clubhouse would be well below the threshold for sprinklers, and he emphasized that property owners should never change posted occupancy limits on their own. He said Westgate Condominiums may or may not need sprinklers in other parts of the complex.

Owens said local inspectors have received 40 hours of classroom instructions about the new code, and two weeks ago he met with leaders of the Rhode Island Association of Fire Marshals to discuss the transition to the new code. He emphasized that his office is on call 24 hours a day to field questions about how to apply the code.

Owens introduced the commission to five newly hired members of his staff: Senior Fire Inspector Dennis McGarty and Fire Inspectors David Scott, Christine Kent, John Wheeler and Thomas Groff. Yesterday was their first day on the job, but Owens said it would be two more months before they are trained and ready to begin nighttime inspections, which are meant to monitor clubs during peak hours.

The commission plans to meet again at noon April 23 in State House Room 135 to hear testimony from the hospitality industry.