Digital Extra: The Station Fire

10:03 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 14, 2004

What worked:

* Firefighters, police and medical personnel rescued, transported and treated 230 patients, many of them critical -- "a monumental accomplishment."

* The state Office of the Medical Examiner -- with help from a federal agency, funeral directors, dentists and health workers -- performed 96 autopsies and victim-identification investigations in less than five days.

* The Family Assistance Center gave crucial physical, psychological, emotional and faith-based support to grieving families.

* The Family Resource Center provided timely help to survivors and their families in obtaining benefits and other entitlements.

* The Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund raised money and quickly got it to survivors, their families, and the families of the deceased.

What didn't work:

* The state Emergency Management Agency failed because of outdated plans, insufficient funding, inadequate facilities and equipment, and organizational and staffing deficiencies.

* Despite early and repeated warnings that there were many deaths, the Officer of the Medical Examiner did not marshal the necessary investigative and transportation resources.

* A lack of communication between the hospitals and the disaster site hindered the hospitals in planning the assignment of arriving patients to physicians and nurses.

* The policies, plans, procedures and technologies in the state emergency management system are inadequate. There is no statewide system to notify senior officials.

* The system to alert area hospitals of a mass casualty event using Nextel radios was not used.

Source: The Station Club Fire After-Action Report