Digital Extra: The Station Fire

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, August 18, 2005

BY DANIEL BARBARISI
Journal Staff Writer

COVENTRY -- Dave Richards has always been afraid of fire.

Ever since his family home burned down when he was a child, the heat and the flame have held a special terror for him.

Richards was working the communications console at Kent Hospital on Feb. 20, 2003. Just after 11 p.m. as his workday was winding down, the switchboard lit up: The Station nightclub, in West Warwick, was on fire and emergency vehicles laden with the injured were speeding toward Kent.

Richards stayed on the console all night, taking calls from frantic families, from police and fire departments, from government officials, and trying to do his part to help keep the chaos at bay.

Afterward, Richards thought mostly about the children affected by the fire. He remembered his own childhood, displaced and scared. He thought of the children of some of the 100 people who lost their lives in the fire. He wanted to help them.

He started writing.

Last fall, Richards, 42, self-published Just Voices They Are Not: The true story behind the rescue teams of the Rhode Island nightclub tragedy -- the first book published about the events of that night.

The 100-page book focuses mainly on the experiences of the rescue crews and fire personnel.

Proceeds from the sale of the book are being put aside in a fund earmarked for the children of the fire victims.

Richards' book features interviews with rescue personnel, firefighters and hospital workers -- mixed with Richards' recollections and the reactions of his daughter. Interspersed throughout are seeming non sequiturs about international terrorism and military secrets.

"I wanted to do something to help, and to show people the amazing work that was done that night," Richards said.

At 1 p.m. Saturday, Waldenbooks at Warwick Mall will host a book signing with Richards to trumpet the local release of his work.

It's a milestone for Richards, who has had difficulty getting the book to the public.

unable to attract a publisher, he paid to publish it himself.

"It's a very hard thing to get into -- I found out for myself, the hard way, the roller coaster ride of trying to publish your own work," he said.

The book has been available since fall at Amazon.com and at other online retailers such as Overstock.com.

Although Richards does not have reliable figures on how many have sold, he knows from the proceeds he has received that more than 500 copies -- perhaps nearly 1,000 -- were bought.

But Richards had not secured a deal with a large company willing to distribute the book to retailers, so local bookstores would not carry the book.

This spring, Richards secured a distribution deal with Baker & Taylor, allowing retail bookstores to buy his book. The first was the Waldenbooks at Warwick Mall.

The retailer would normally not carry a self-published book, said assistant manager Betsy Alexander. But because Richards had the deal with the distributor, and because of the local connection, she thought it was a good chance to take.

"It's been a long road. But now, I have a feeling they're all going to sell out," Richards said.

Richards wrote the book under the pen name D.J. Telec -- an amalgam of his first and middle names, David John, and Telec, which he chose because tele implies the transmission of information.

He wrote under the pen name, he said, because he didn't want anyone to think that he was doing this for personal gain or recognition.

Richards said that writing the book has wrecked his life -- that his quest to create and promote his book ended his marriage.

He now is employed as an assistant manager at a Cumberland Farms store.

When his marriage ended just as he was finishing the writing, he sold his house and used the money to publish the book. He lives with family and friends.

"My life has gone to shambles, but I refuse to give up on this," he said.

When the book starts to make some money -- which Richards is convinced it will do -- 80 percent of the proceeds will go to a fund he has established for the children of the fire vitims. Richards has not decided what how best to use the money -- perhaps, he said, it can be used to organize events for them.

"That's my personal gift to them, something I feel I have to do," Richards said. "I want to take those 60 kids and make sure they're not alone the rest of their life."