Digital Extra: The Station Fire

From Mediterraneo on Federal Hill to Lombardi's 1025 in Johnston, the owners of some establishments say they don't belong on the fire marshal's list.

11:10 AM EST on Thursday, December 16, 2004

BY MARK ARSENAULT
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Ninety-five of 177 nightclubs in Rhode Island must install sprinklers under the fire safety laws inspired by The Station disaster in 2003, according to a statewide survey compiled by the state fire marshal's office.

Of those 95 clubs, 55 must also install fire alarms that automatically notify the local fire department when the alarm sounds. Thirteen other clubs that meet the sprinkler requirements must install these municipally connected alarms.

The fire marshal's study, which combined data from local fire departments and nighttime surveys by the marshal's staff, found that 69 clubs already meet both the sprinkler and alarm requirements.

Governor Carcieri's office released the results of the marshal's survey yesterday. The list does not include large theaters, which could come under the sprinkler law. Fire Marshal Irving J. Owens said last night that his office concentrated first on nightclubs. "All the others will be addressed accordingly," he said.

The governor can expect some arguments over the list -- several business owners interviewed yesterday insisted that they were included on the list by mistake, that they do not need sprinklers under the law and can't imagine how they got on the list.

The Station nightclub fire, Feb. 20, 2003, killed 100 people, injured about 200 and provoked an overhaul of the state's fire code. Getting more sprinklers into places of public assembly was a key goal of the 2003 legislation.

Who needs sprinklers?

That has to be determined by an inspector on a case-by-case basis. But in general, places of assembly with occupancies above the threshold of 300 patrons will probably need sprinklers. A lower threshold of 150 patrons applies to businesses that fit the legal definition of a nightclub -- essentially a place that makes most of its money on beverages and cover charges, rather than food.

Under the law, nightclubs with maximum occupancies of between 150 and 300 people have until July 1, 2006, to install sprinklers. Larger places of assembly are to install sprinklers by next July.

In this year's session, the legislature added flexibility to the deadlines, giving the Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review the authority to push the sprinkler deadlines as far back as 2008. Tom Coffey, the board's director, said yesterday that the deadlines had not been moved.

Owens said it's too soon to tell whether the deadlines are realistic. "I think there are enough people licensed to do sprinklers [to handle the volume,] but I'm not sure there's time," he said.

Steve Lombardi, an owner of Lombardi's 1025 in Johnston, objects to his banquet facility appearing on a list with nightclubs. Faced with an estimated bill of $300,000 to $400,000 to put sprinklers in his business, he said he needs more time, and urged state officials to reconsider whether banquet facilities should be forced to install sprinklers.

Though his engineering design work is under way, "Come July 1, 2005, I'm supposed to have a sprinkler system, and I can't see it happening by then," Lombardi said. "It's really wrong to classify us as a nightclub. Nightclubs are open late, into the morning, and some of the kids in them are pretty intoxicated. Let's look again at this law, for existing buildings."

Brian Casey, owner of Oak Hill Tavern, in North Kingstown, said yesterday that his business is wrongly on the list of places needing sprinklers. "I don't need sprinklers," he said. "I have a legal capacity of 129." He said his local fire inspector has been through his business and never told him he needed sprinklers.

Stephen Marra, an owner of a restaurant group that includes The Grille on Main, in East Greenwich, has the same complaint. He can't imagine how The Grille on Main -- a restaurant that seats 147, he says -- is listed as needing both sprinklers and a municipally connected fire alarm. The location was home to a nightclub under another name in the 1980s, he said, but the place hasn't been a nightclub for years. "We've never had a day of entertainment."

Gianfranco Marrocco, owner of Mediterraneo on Atwells Avenue in Providence, is planning to put in a $45,000 sprinkler system, but said he is doing so voluntarily, and was unsure why his business is on the list. "I think they have it wrong," he said.

Evelyn's Villa, in West Warwick, meets sprinkler requirements, according to the governor's office, but needs a municipally connected alarm. That's accurate, said Stephen Simas, a part-owner. That alarm should be in by April 1, he said. The cost? $30,000.

"It's an investment in your business," he said. "If there's a fire, you know that the fire department will be there immediately."