Digital Extra: The Station Fire

'You can never forget'

Some light candles, some bring flowers and some carry photos of their loved ones. Others silently pay their respects, while Governor Carcieri tells the crowd there is no explanation for the "pain that never will leave."

08:58 AM EST on Monday, February 21, 2005

BY SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
Journal Staff Writer

WEST WARWICK -- Hundreds of people braved the cold last night to make one thing clear: they had not forgotten.

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Second anniversary of the Station nightclub fire

And they never will.

Exactly two years after Rhode Island's deadliest fire, they gathered at the site of The Station nightclub to remember and celebrate the lives of those lost.

There were songs and flowers. Candles and crosses. But most important, there were memories.

"Obviously the magnitude of losing 100 precious lives here has had a profound effect on people and they find closeness in coming here. They feel a connection at the site," said Kimberly Jalette, president of The Station Fire Memorial Foundation, which organized last night's anniversary event.

Jalette said her foundation has vowed to continue commemorating "our 100 loved ones."

One way is to bring everybody together on the anniversary.

"It gives people a sense of unity. It gives people a sense of having others who were touched by the tragedy," she said. "Today's theme is 'Celebrating Angels.' "

During last year's anniversary, "everyone was still in shock," Jalette said.

"Last year, we had really kind of a reflection on our loss," she said. "This year we really want to celebrate those lives and reflect more on the fact that they are still here with us every single day [even though] they are not here physically."

THEN THERE are the survivors.

Journal photo / Connie Grosch

A heart with 100 lightbulbs, representing each person who died in the fire at The Station nightclub two years ago. Designed by fire survivor Paul Bertolo, the heart was illuminated at the conclusion of last night's memorial service in West Warwick.

Walter Castle Jr. was in the club when the fire began. A bouncer told him he could not leave through a stage exit, but Castle said he pushed the bouncer aside and left.

He went last night "because I feel that if I don't, I won't keep my friends in memory. I feel that I have to for my friends' memories."

"I couldn't for a while after the fire but now it's getting easier," Castle said. "I'm here almost every day, straightening up the place. If I don't come here, I don't feel like I've accomplished something."

Like most gathered during the chilly winter's evening, Castle, whose lungs were severely burned in the fire, said he relies on others for support.

"It's kind of heartwarming in a sense because everybody pulls together," he said. "We all have something in common: we lost people. And we all are trying to pull together to be as one."

Last year was more of a remembrance for Castle; this year "more of a celebration."

"Last year I was a total wreck. I was still grasping in my head that I lost everybody," he said. "This year, even though I'm still having the nightmares -- and there's not a day that goes by that I don't have a nightmare or a flashback -- but I'm getting a little bit better. . . . I'm just feeling myself healing a little bit more."

Eric Williams was also inside the club that night.

He and other survivors -- folks he didn't know two years ago but have since become his friends -- went last night because "it's the right place to be."

Last night was a way to pay respect to the 100 people who lost their lives.

"I think they know we're here. I think it means something to them," Williams said. "You can't forget them. You can never forget them."

For Richard Bruzzese, who lost two friends in the fire, there is still pain, but he is starting to feel "a little more healed."

He didn't make it to last year's remembrance, but was out last night with his friends' photos.

"The feeling is never going to go away," Bruzzese said. "It's just something that is the product of greed and stupidity. That's all this is about."

LONG BEFORE the start of the official ceremony, a large crowd gathered at the site. Many circled though the shrines that now rest where the club once stood. Some lit candles, some brought flowers and others carried around photos of their loved ones.

Others silently paid their respects.

Governor Carcieri gave his reflections on the fire and the two years of pain, suffering and healing that have followed.

The governor was invited by the memorial foundation to speak, Jalette said, because "he provided exceptional leadership and treated those who lost loved ones with the utmost respect and dignity."

Carcieri said he was hesitant to go and therefore politicize the event, but in the end went to honor the families.

"Who can ever forget? We will never forget," Carcieri said. "None of us will ever forget. And there's nothing wrong with that. We should never forget."

Journal photo / Connie Grosch

Liz Princince, of Woonsocket, and her daughter Katelyn attend "Celebrating Angels," the memorial service yesterday at the site of the fire. They lost a friend, Louis Alves, in the 2003 fire.

"You all know that. We all know that. There is no explanation for that," he said.

The fire caused "a pain that never will leave," he said.

"With God's help and God's love and spirit, maybe it gets a little lessened and we get through. But it's not something that we ever get over," Carcieri said. "You make do. You take it one day at a time and live the life that you have to live. And remember that our loved ones want it that way, want us to go on, want us to live."

Ten friends and relatives of victims then read the names of all 100 people who died.

Many broke down in tears.

"I just broke down and cried. I could not help it. The ceremony was beautiful," said Sophie O'Leary, who knew several of the victims.

The night was capped with the illumination of a heart with 100 lights -- one for each victim -- made by survivor Paul Bertolo. The heart was unveiled at last year's ceremony. Many gravitated toward it before filing out into the night.

"I built it mainly to remember the people that perished that night and also because of the guilt I have inside me because I believe a few probably sacrificed their lives on mine to get out," Bertolo said. "Last year when I made it, I wasn't feeling myself. That was just a way to help me heal as well. To do something to give back."

For Bertolo, the memory of the fire and diving out a window to survive is as vivid as ever.

"Nothing changed," he said. "Everything is still fresh in my mind of what happened that night. It just won't leave."

Look back at The Station fire and its aftermath, view profiles of its victims, post remembrances in an online guest book and more, at:

http://www.projo.com/wwfire