Digital Extra: The Station Fire

An early decision to have a pastor at the scene helped the firefighters and rescue workers during the recovery process.

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

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

Anne Balboni got the call shortly after The Station nightclub fire. By 12:30 a.m. she was on the scene and did not leave until the last fire truck drove off 23 hours later.

Balboni, a Cranston psychologist, heads Rhode Island's Critical Incident Stress Management Team. The 27-member team, made up of specially trained police, fire, EMT personnel and clergy, is called by fire chiefs throughout the state when tragedy occurs. The team helps rescue workers and recovery workers cope.

"We told them there was nothing that could have prepared them for what they saw, smelled, heard and felt that night," Balboni says. "Even the silence at the scene can be overwhelming at times."

A consultant's report released yesterday on the state's response to The Station fire praised the team's efficiency and compassion. In fact, some team members are still counseling people who responded to the fire.

The report cites several instances where the team improvised, showing initiative and leadership.

A crucial decision was made early on -- to place a pastor on the scene. An Episcopal minister began the rotation that continued for 24 hours and involved several clergy members.

"A prayer was said over every body that was pulled out," Balboni said. "The firefighters stopped and prayed with the clergy."

Then they went back in and retrieved more bodies.

Having clergy there helped the workers continue the recovery process, especially as the initial estimate of 30 dead swelled to 50, then 75. In the end, 96 bodies were pulled from the ashes of The Station.

"I think we are made of both body and spirit," Balboni says of the decision. "When we go on a scene, it's our responsibility to help the responders physically and spiritually."

A state trooper went to the state morgue and saw employees of the medical examiner's office standing for 12-hour shifts, identifying bodies and performing autopsies.

Can you do anything to help them? he asked Balboni.

Balboni sent five massage therapists to the morgue -- something the report recommends be done in the event of a future mass casualty situation.

Someone realized that no list of responding agencies was being maintained, so the team created one two days later.

Every firefighter on the scene talked to a team member before leaving, and several police officerschose to do so as well, a move the report recommends for the future.

"During a three-week period following the fire, CISM personnel conducted 37 defusing and 29 debriefing sessions, made 42 [fire] station visits and 11 follow-up station visits and engaged in 119 individual counseling sessions," the report said.

A command post was set up at Balboni's house during this period. The team reached out to crane operators, West Warwick town employees, anyone who had been working at the site that night.

"There is no protocol," Balboni says of the decisions made that night. "But there was a need and that was recognized."