Digital Extra: The Station Fire

Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, praised for determining victims' identities and performing autopsies rapidly, is criticized for failing to respond to the fire scene.

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

BY JENNIFER LEVITZ
Journal Staff Writer

Rhode Island Chief Medical Examiner Elizabeth A. Laposata did not show up at the scene of The Station nightclub fire despite several calls from the head of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency and West Warwick's police chief urging that she come or send a senior staff member.

The Station Club Fire After-Action Report says that, when interviewed, Dr. Laposata said she did not remember those phone calls.

The report praises the Office of the Medical Examiner for its extraordinary job -- with help from the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, the Rhode Island Funeral Directors Association, the Rhode Island Dental Association and the state Department of Health -- of completing positive forensic identifications and performing autopsies on 96 burn victims in less than five days.

But the report also says that on the night of the fire, Laposata's office "failed to respond with sufficient resources and experienced leadership." It sent one inspector who was "clearly overwhelmed." His camera broke down in the bitter cold, and his fingers were numb; he had just his own van and two livery trucks to transport 96 bodies. Vans on the scene, including those from West Warwick Public Works, were put into use to carry the dead to the morgue.

Yesterday, Grant C. Peterson, vice president of Titan Corp., the San Diego-based firm hired by Governor Carcieri, said that Laposata's office had the expertise to handle a large emergency but didn't use it on the night of the fire. Laposata, a pathologist who has 25 years of experience in her field, 8 of them in Rhode Island, led the more than 217 autopsies after the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 off Nantucket in October 1999.

"There was a lot of knowledge in that department," Peterson said. But "certainly in the initial stages" of the fire, "there was not understanding of the magnitude of this event."

Laposata yesterday released a statement referring calls to the Health Department. Dr. Patricia Nolan, state health director, who oversees the Office of the Medical Examiner, said: "I don't specifically know why the decision was not made to have more people on the scene."

Nolan said Laposata told her she did not go to The Station scene so that she could concentrate on organizing her office to deal with the dead as quickly as possible so that families could be notified. Nolan also said Laposata did not have a deputy medical examiner at the time. The consultants also said that neither Laposata nor the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency notified Nolan. Nolan said yesterday that she learned of the disaster, which began shortly after 11 p.m., when her alarm clock went off at 6:10 a.m. the morning after. She said there is no requirement that Laposata must call her in an emergency.

Yesterday, Carcieri said of Laposata: "Let me just say, if I were the medical examiner, I would have been on the scene on what was the largest disaster in our state's history. Why she didn't . . . there were some people there, but apparently from Titan's standpoint, not enough."

According to the report, an inspector identified only as "Mr. Kingston" was on duty at the medical examiner's office on Feb. 20. He called Laposata at home around 11:30 p.m., after getting a call from a West Warwick police dispatcher. The first report said that between 15 and 20 people might be dead.

Kingston called the Ocean State Livery Transfer Service, the company contracted by the Office of the Medical Examiner, to assist with the removal of bodies, and told them to send two trucks. Kingston went to the scene. He added more plastic gloves and three additional boxes of body bags to his already stocked van.

But "the growing number of dead and the degree of injuries to so many victims took an emotional toll on everyone engaged in the recovery process, including Mr. Kingston and his assistants." Zippers on body bags froze, and bags were covered with sheets that the wind blew away.

As the body count rose, according to the report, Kingston "periodically" called Laposata and George Ducharme, the medical examiner's administrative officer, and "apprised them of the situation."

The inspector was gone from the scene between 2 and 3 a.m., taking fire victims to the morgue. His temporary absence "interrupted" the recovery of bodies from the burned nightclub.

The report states that Albert Scappaticci, executive director of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, called Laposata at home twice between 3 and 5 a.m., "urging that she come to the scene or send a senior staff member." The report makes no mention of Laposata's response.

Health Director Nolan yesterday said that Kingston, the investigator on the scene, was a senior staff member with nine years of experience. The report says either Laposata or another pathologist should have immediately gone to the scene to assess the magnitude of the disaster and be ready to commit more resources.

West Warwick Police Chief Peter Brousseau made a similar call to Laposata around 3:30 a.m., the report states. Again, her response is not noted.

"The on-scene investigator was clearly overwhelmed by the circumstances at the Station club, yet neither the chief medical examiner nor any other senior person from the Office of Medical Examiner visited the scene," the report states.