Digital Extra: The Station Fire

Banquet halls and dining facilities now have until Oct. 31, 2006, to install sprinkler systems under a variance approved in April.

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, June 26, 2005

BY MARK ARSENAULT
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Two years ago, legislators looked forward to July 1, 2005, as a milestone in Rhode Island's response to the disaster at The Station nightclub.

The date was to be the first deadline for places of public assembly to install fire sprinklers.

But the deadline has been pushed off, leaving only a few large nightclubs under the original deadline.

First aimed at all places of assembly that hold more than 300 people, Friday's deadline has been softened to provide more time for banquet halls and "dining facilities" to comply with the code.

The sprinkler requirement was a key point of the 2003 overhaul of the state's fire laws, approved several months after The Station nightclub, in West Warwick, burned down and killed 100 people.

A blanket variance approved in April by the Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review, pushes off the final sprinkler deadline for any "organized dining facility" to late 2006, as long as they have a signed contract for sprinkler design by Friday.

The blanket variance applies to halls, banquet facilities and large restaurants, said state Fire Marshal Irving J. Owens.

The new deadlines outlined by the variance are:

July 1, 2005: deadline to have a signed contract for sprinkler system design.

Oct. 31, 2005: deadline for the completion of design.

Dec. 31, 2005: deadline for securing permits and approvals for the sprinkler system, including any permits from water departments.

July 1, 2006: deadline for filing an appeal to request another extension of the final deadline.

Oct. 31, 2006: final deadline for completing the sprinkler system.

Steve Lombardi, an owner of Lombardi's 1025 in Johnston, argued before the Fire Code board in favor of the extension, on behalf of the hospitality industry.

"The [original] time frame that they had given us was unrealistic," said Lombardi, who has estimated the cost of putting sprinklers in his banquet facility at $300,000 to $400,000.

In its April decision, the Fire Code board stated that "representatives of the sprinkler and hospitality industries have advised the board that, while it may be possible to provide timely sprinkler coverage in the existing 'nightclub' places of assembly in the state, it will not be possible" for all places of assembly to be sprinklered by the original deadline.

The law defines nightclubs as places that make most of their money on cover charges and beverage sales, rather than food sales. The blanket variance by the board specifically states that nightclubs are to be held to the original deadlines.

The General Assembly last year gave the Fire Board the authority to extend deadlines as late as 2008.

Tom Coffey, the board's director, said the board extended the deadlines, "to keep the process in motion. . . . If the sprinkler industry couldn't physically complete the work, then there was no point."

"You have to prioritize," said George Farrell, Providence fire marshal and the Fire Code board's chairman. "If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority."

SO WHICH places of public assembly need sprinklers?

Far fewer than the hundreds estimated when the law was first approved.

Statewide, fire officials have identified 79 places of assembly -- halls, large restaurants and nightclubs -- that will need sprinklers under the law, according to a list provided by Owens.

Of those 79, 48 must also install an alarm connected to their municipal fire department. Twelve additional places that don't need sprinklers must install municipally-connected alarms.

More than half the places that must install sprinklers have maximum occupancies of 150 to 300 people, according to Owens. The original fire laws passed after The Station disaster give those smaller clubs until July 1, 2006 to install sprinkler systems. (Nightclubs that hold fewer than 150 people are exempt.)

Owens provided a list on Friday of 36 places of assembly that hold more than 300 people, and do not already have sprinklers. Most of the places on his list come under the Fire Code board's blanket variance, such as the 1025 Club, several Newport mansions that are rented for events, a number of large restaurants, and Elks and Legion halls, said Owens.

Owens does not expect his forces will be closing down sprinkler violators on Friday, he said. He cited pending legislation expected to become law that would allow local fire officials to give leeway to businesses struggling with deadlines. "If [a business] is making a bonafide effort to do something, the local [fire] authority would have the option of giving them a little more time," Owens said.

The Rhode Island Hospitality & Tourism Association knows of none of its members that are in danger of being closed when the sprinkler deadline falls on Friday, a spokeswoman said.

Some places of assembly have already completed their sprinkler systems, but Owens did not have an exact count on Friday.

At Mediterraneo restaurant in Providence, owner Gianfranco Marrocco's sprinkler system is done, waiting only for the new water line from Providence Water, he said.

The sprinklers and a new alarm cost Marrocco $90,000.

"That's a lot of pasta, my friend," he said. "I won't be going on vacation this year."

Installing the sprinklers took about one year, he said.

"By the time you design, submit your plans, have them reviewed, make corrections . . ." he said. "Plus, every sprinkler guy in the state is busy right now."

Having helped secure more time for his business and others like it, Lombardi, of the 1025, said: "Now the thing we're trying to do is go for funding." He suggested that the state divert money from the 1-percent increase in the food and beverage tax, which began in 2003, to provide grants or loans to help pay for sprinklers.