Digital Extra: The Station Fire

Instead of coordinating the many individuals and organizations who responded to the nightclub fire, the agency deferred to West Warwick officials.

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

BY EDWARD FITZPATRICK
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The state's Emergency Management Agency was supposed to serve as the nerve center for Rhode Island's response to The Station fire, but with inadequate plans, money and equipment, the agency failed to perform some of its most basic functions that night, according to a consultant's report.

While the Feb. 20, 2003, blaze was the deadliest fire in Rhode Island history, the state's Mass Casualty Disaster Plan was not used, and its emergency operations center in Cranston was not activated, according to the Station club fire report released yesterday.

And while the Emergency Management Agency does have a mobile command post, it is a 1988 Ford truck that needs replacing and wasn't used the night of the fire, according to the report.

Also, agency workers brought 40 Nextel radios to the fire scene, but they were not distributed or used that night -- despite significant communications problems, the consultants say.

"The statewide Rhode Island emergency management system failed to function effectively," the report says, though it is supposed to be "the heart of this system."

Governor Carcieri arrived at the fire scene the morning after the fire, returning from a trip to Florida, and found many people and agencies involved in the emergency response. But, the report says, "there was no single individual to whom the governor could turn for information."

This should have been the role of the Emergency Management Agency, the consultants say: to serve as the management focal point and provide regular updates to the governor with information from the scene, the family assistance center, medical examiner, hospitals, public safety organizations, charitable groups and myriad other organizations that responded.

The agency's executive director, Albert A. Scappaticci, learned about the fire in a phone call from his daughter, followed the situation on television and began notifying various officials, according to the report. Scappaticci then went to the scene and "spent the first several hours at the incident site, but primarily in a liaison capacity to the West Warwick leadership team at an informal command post established at the Cowesett Inn," the report says.

The report says there was confusion about who was in charge of the overall operation. "West Warwick town leaders assumed they were in charge because the fire occurred in their jurisdiction, but "many organizations believed that RIEMA was in the lead because of the many responding state and voluntary organizations and the potentially large number of fatalities."

While Scappaticci "clearly deferred to West Warwick," the report states, "it was apparent in the early morning hours of Feb. 21 that the scope and magnitude of responding to this tragedy was beyond the management capacity of the Town of West Warwick."

The Emergency Management Agency has "many dedicated and competent staff members" whose contributions are described throughout this report, but it also says that "dedication and hard work cannot overcome systemic flaws."

The report, prepared for the state by the Titan Corp. of San Diego, says that neither the West Warwick nor Rhode Island emergency operations centers were activated, and that procedures for activating the state operations center are outdated. Some hospitals called the agency's headquarters seeking information but reached an after-hours answering service, according to the report.

Titan consultants also criticize the state's Mass Casualty Disaster Plan, saying it was written by the Emergency Management Agency in the 1990s and does not contain detailed information about the specific responsibilities.

The report links the agency's "inability to maintain current planning documents" with inadequate staffing and funding.

While it used to be a key agency in the governor's office, the Emergency Management Agency's staff has dwindled from 29 people in 1974 to 13 employees at the time of The Station fire. Since the fire, the agency has added five positions, but it would still be hard-pressed to run 24 hours a day in a catastrophe, the report says.

The agency moved from the State House to the National Guard Command Readiness Center in Cranston in 1996, and the report says the new site "is not adequate in size or design and is not properly equipped to effectively manage emergency response and recovery activities."

When it comes to computers, the agency is not connected to the state network, it relies on dial-up access to the Internet, and it's not using crisis-management software, according to the report.

It describes morale within the agency as "generally low. Many staff members view the organization as an unwanted tenant in the Rhode Island National Guard complex, [beholden] to a reluctant landlord for the facilities and support needed to do their job."

The report questions whether the agency should be part of the military department, saying some liken that to having the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Department of Defense.

At a news conference yesterday, Governor Carcieri said, "We need a more robust EMA, on its own. Historically, we've evolved an EMA within the National Guard. I won't say it's been a stepchild, but the National Guard is this large organization, and this is clear to me: We need a stronger EMA effort, and it needs to have its own capabilities."

Carcieri talked about pulling the agency out from the National Guard umbrella but keeping it within a Homeland Security umbrella. "It needs to be integrated because many of the assets that you require come from the National Guard," he said. "But there needs to be more independence, more strength, more resources there because its role is different."

Carcieri talked about physically separating the agency from the National Guard building, suggesting it could end up in a building in the state's Pastore Complex in Cranston. Also, he said the agency needs more "human resources and technological resources."

When asked if there will be personnel changes in response to the report, Carcieri said, "We are going through a process." He has asked departments to review the report and make recommendations within 30 days.

Carcieri said that department heads, who did not attend the news conference, would be available afterward for comment on the highly critical report. But afterward, Scappaticci said he was told to refer all questions to the governor's office. Maj. Gen. Reginald A. Centracchio, the Emergency Management Agency director and commanding general of the Rhode Island National Guard, could not be reached late in the day.