Digital Extra: The Station Fire

Among other things, the report notes problems with radio communications among responding departments and the lack of a coordinating officer on the scene.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 14, 2004

BY LIZ ANDERSON
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The call for help went out statewide after pyrotechnics plunged The Station nightclub into a scene of chaos and mass casualties. But once hundreds of rescuers responded to the scene, it was hard for them to talk to each other.

Radio and other communications problems complicated the rescue efforts from the start, according to a state consultant's report released yesterday.

Among the problems:

West Warwick police headquarters pleaded for assistance over a shared "intercity" radio channel, but once individual officers from other jurisdictions arrived, there was no way for them to use their radios to talk to West Warwick police.

Most police departments lacked "formal or clearly defined mutual-aid agreements," creating confusion about how officers from other towns would be used.

There was no "point person" at the scene to direct incoming officers, leaving them to try to "provide assistance wherever it was needed." Many ended up primarily doing traffic and crowd control.

Some police departments, such as Johnston, could not reach their own officers by radio once they were in West Warwick. The Johnston chief said yesterday officers were out of range, but checked in with their police station by cellular telephone instead.

West Warwick police established a command post at the nearby Cowesett Inn, but individual departments needed a better system for regularly updating that command post about where their officers were, and what they were doing.

Police did not set up a more formal "incident command system," which could have more tightly managed the effort.

Firefighters also faced a radio system not capable of handling all of the traffic on a shared channel. Responding departments stayed on their own channels so as not to bog down the single "intercity" frequency.

To help coordinate things, fire chiefs from Cranston and Warwick stayed near the West Warwick chief's side to relay his orders to their crews.

"There were some communications problems, but not with the core group," Cranston Fire Chief Robert Warren said of the situation.

Meanwhile, hospitals turned to television news reports as their best source for monitoring and preparing for the aftermath.

(A staff member at Kent Hospital first assumed a report from a rescue unit of a "fire at The Station" meant it was at the fire station, and therefore discounted a second message indicating the possibility of more than 100 victims.)

The report also says there was "little communication" among the hospitals and emergency personnel on scene or en route with victims.

The state has no single emergency medical response communications system, although one is now in the works. Some ambulance crews responding were unfamiliar with hospital locations or how to correctly reach them by radio.

It was not just the rescuers who needed better connections. The critical incident stress management team, supporting those working at the site, lacked radios or two-way pagers that would allow them both to deploy quickly and communicate with each other once on scene.

The report has other suggestions for police and rescuers, such as the need for larger "staging areas" for emergency vehicles. It recommends all departments have a ready stack of jackets officers can wear to clearly identify them as police. It also proposes police officers be trained not just in first aid but "the basic concepts of triage" -- prioritizing medical care -- in case they are the first to arrive at a scene with a large number of injured.

Governor Carcieri noted yesterday that the vast majority of homeland security grants go to local cities and towns. He said one challenge for Rhode Island is to coordinate those grant applications, so the systems that various towns build in the future are compatible.

Narragansett Police Chief J. David Smith, head of the state's police chiefs association, said Rhode Island is doing just that. Smith said a task force of both state and local government officials has been working on a "statewide strategy" for emergency communications, including the purchase of a radio system that will allow departments to talk more easily to each other.

Smith said bids were just opened for the first phase of the project, which will include Washington County, Warwick and West Warwick. He said more federal funds are being sought to extend the system through the northern part of the state, including Providence.

In both cases, he said, the state cited the problems encountered in West Warwick to show the need for the system.

Still, "in a situation as emotional and difficult as that Station fire scene must have been, it's possible even with a brand-new completely interoperable system there would have been some confusion and people uncertain as to where to go, particularly when they first come on scene," Smith said.

Carcieri also said yesterday that the state will soon use $1 million in federal money to purchase a command vehicle able to patch together a variety of radio frequencies in an emergency. He said the state borrowed a similar vehicle from Massachusetts during a Pawtucket mill fire in November.

With reports from staff writers Felice J. Freyer, Michael Corkery and Jennifer D. Jordan.