Digital Extra: The Station Fire

01:00 AM EST on Thursday, February 24, 2005

BY PAUL EDWARD PARKER
Journal Staff Writer

The federal agency investigating The Station nightclub fire will issue its findings a week from today at two briefings in Rhode Island.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, known by the acronym NIST, will brief the media at 11 a.m. at the Providence Marriott Hotel. Earlier in the morning, the agency will host a private briefing for survivors of the fire and family members of those who died.

At the same time as the media briefing, NIST will post its report on its Web site, www.nist.gov/ncst. The report is a draft of the agency's final report, subject to public comment. The public will have until April 4 to comment before the draft becomes the finished report.

The report will not assign blame for the fire that consumed the West Warwick nightclub on Feb. 20, 2003, eventually killing 100.

The agency said in a statement yesterday: "The overall goal of this investigation . . . is to recommend improvements in the way people design, construct, maintain and use buildings to increase both occupant safety and structural integrity."

The investigation was conducted by an NIST subdivision called the National Construction Safety Team. That team was charged with gathering detailed information about events the night of the fire, then recommending changes to building codes, standards and practices to prevent similar disasters.

The agency does not have the authority to change codes. It will be up to other agencies, such as state and municipal regulatory bodies, to adopt changes based on the NIST report.

Agency spokesman Michael E. Newman said yesterday that the report will examine such areas as the response by emergency personnel, the crowd crush that trapped clubgoers in a pile jammed in the front door, the rapid spread of smoke and fire throughout the nightclub, and human behavior during the evacuation.

Newman said some of the findings will come as little surprise to those who have followed the fire investigation. As an example, NIST has already released tests that showed a sprinkler system would have made a significant difference in how the fire spread through the nightclub.

"There will be what seem like some obvious recommendations," said Newman.

The Station investigation will be the first completed by the National Construction Safety Team. The team was formed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to study catastrophic building failures. The team is still at work on its investigation of the World Trade Center collapse.

NIST had planned to hold a briefing for the media and one for the public, but -- at the suggestion of U.S. Sen. Jack Reed -- scrapped the public briefing in favor of a private meeting with survivors and families. Reed is expected to be in Washington and does not plan to attend the Rhode Island briefings.