Digital Extra: The Station Fire

The two-year-old facility had been operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy because of deficiencies, but those safety issues are addressed.

08:28 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman URI's $54-million Ryan Center, at top in this 2002 aerial view, includes high-tech safety features, university officials say.

PROVIDENCE -- After several changes and an independent safety review, the University of Rhode Island's Ryan Center now complies with state fire codes and is ready to receive a formal certificate of occupancy, the Rhode Island Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review ruled yesterday.

The $54-million arena, which opened its doors 22 months ago and has had a temporary certificate of occupancy extended three times, was cited by the state fire marshal last year for having two dozen deficiencies. The problems ranged from a lack of exit signs to stairways that are 2 1/2 feet narrower than state law allows.

Many deficiencies were corrected immediately, but 13 remained in contention, sparking debate between URI officials and the state fire marshal's office. URI said the arena was designed using high-tech safety devices, such as computerized fire alarms, sprinklers and smoke-evacuation systems, which buy people more time to leave in an emergency. Under a newer performance-based analysis of the building, the Ryan Center complied with state law, URI officials said.

However, the fire marshal's office uses an older method to assess building safety, called the prescriptive method, which relies on minimum widths for doors and stairways, for example. From this point of view, the Ryan Center, which has a capacity of more than 9,000 people, came up short, state Fire Marshal Irving J. Owens said in January. Of particular concern were exit points and stairways that measure 13.5 feet wide instead of 16 feet.

The state's Fire Safety Code Board recommended that URI hire an independent contractor to analyze the building and render a neutral report -- which was accepted by the board yesterday.

The 53-page report by Howe Engineers, Inc., of North Falmouth, Mass., cost URI about $14,000, according to a spokeswoman, and supported the performance-based analysis. The report found that the means of egress and safety measures exceeded "the minimum code requirements for a sports, concert or performance event."

"It's the safest facility [people] could ever attend an event at," said Robert A. Weygand, URI's vice president of administration. "It has state-of-the-art fire protection, smoke evacuation, and meets all of the codes."

But two members of the board voiced concern over the types of events that can be held at the Ryan Center and said they could not endorse the independent study.

The board voted 8-1, with one abstention, to support the study. J. Robert Wahlberg cast the lone vote against the report.

"I feel this building is not finished and that it needs another exit," Wahlberg said, adding he couldn't vote in favor "when I know there's something wrong."

He also cited consultant James M. Howe's estimates that it could take 28 to 56 minutes to evacuate the building at peak capacity.

Howe later said his analysis showed most people could leave the building within a 7-to-10-minute time frame, but said he wanted to show the worst-case scenario and offer the most conservative estimate.

W. Keith Burlingame, a former chief of the Kingston Fire District, abstained from voting, saying his role as an intermediary between officials at URI and the state fire marshal's office over the past six months "would affect my decision."

URI officials said they plan to add about $200,000 worth of sprinklers to the ceiling over the basketball floor and a few key spots in the concourse, although they are not required to do so by law, "to remove any doubt the public may have about the safety of the building," Weygand said.

Just four months ago, however, J. Kevin Culley, URI's safety and risk-management director, said such a step would be "a waste of time and add unnecessary weight to the ceiling." Culley said that a sprinkler system up as high as 75 feet would be ineffective in dousing a fire below.

The members who voted to accept Howe's life-safety analysis of the Ryan Center and authorize the state fire marshal to issue a certificate of occupancy were: Chairman George Farrell, who is also a Providence deputy fire marshal; Central Falls Fire Chief Rene Coutu; June Evans; Gordon Preiss; Marion Filippi; Dana Newbrook; Richard O'Connell, and Stuart Pearson, chief of the Harmony Fire Department in Glocester.