Digital Extra: The Station Fire

The fire official who inspected The Station nightclub before the fatal blaze makes a lateral move as a battalion chief in charge of one of the department's platoons.

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, October 4, 2005

BY BENJAMIN N. GEDAN
Journal Staff Writer

WEST WARWICK -- Fire Marshal Denis P. Larocque, the man who was in charge of inspecting The Station nightclub and is a defendant in lawsuits against the town, has changed jobs within the Fire Department.

Larocque resigned as fire marshal Sept. 14, when he sought to return to direct firefighting, overseeing a platoon of firefighters. His salary, of about $53,000, and rank, of battalion chief, will remain the same, Kevin P. Tellier, president of the firefighters' union, said yesterday.

Larocque, a lifelong West Warwick resident who replaced former Fire Marshal Russell N. Ouellette in 1998, was not available for comment yesterday. Fire Chief Charles D. Hall characterized Larocque's decision as voluntary.

"He was doing a good job where he was and he'll do a good job where he is," Hall said. "That was his choice."

Assistant Fire Marshal David Pastore was elevated to replace Larocque in a union bidding process during the Sept. 14 meeting at the headquarters of Local 1104 of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Larocque's new position became available Sept. 1, when Battalion Chief Wayne Willette retired, Tellier said.

In the 2 1/2 years since the fire at The Station nightclub killed 100 people, town officials have stood by Larocque and Building Official Stephen D. Murray, who was also responsible for inspecting the building. Murray is also a defendant in the civil lawsuit, and until this summer, both he and Larocque retained their posts.

Larocque, 49, who joined the Fire Department in 1977, has been eligible for retirement since before The Station fire. But leaving immediately after The Station fire might have appeared like "running away from the situation," Jean P. Roch, a childhood friend, told the Journal in 2003.

Today, neither Larocque nor Murray remains in his inspector's position. Larocque left his post last month by raising his hand at a union meeting and volunteering for the new job. Murray has been on unpaid leave since early June due to undisclosed health problems, Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said. His return date is unknown.

The Town Council tonight is expected to promote Murray's interim replacement, Stanley Pikul, to permanent building official alongside Murray. The council also recently hired a part-time inspector.

The council has also increased staffing in the fire prevention division since The Station fire, on Feb. 20, 2003. Even after the fire, Larocque complained of insufficient staffing, in part because of requirements contained in the new state fire code enacted in response to The Station fire. The council has hired an assistant marshal, at captain's rank, to join Larocque's division, and added a second assistant marshal and a clerk.

Bauer said the staffing decisions came in response to a backlog on inspections and had no connection to The Station fire. The redevelopment of the Royal Mills and other vacant properties on the Pawtuxet River, he said, have added to the burden of the fire prevention division. "The staffing was increased basically for customer service," Bauer said.

Larocque has been criticized for overlooking the flammable soundproofing foam during inspections of The Station nightclub. He inspected The Station several times before the fire, but did not require removal of the polyurethane foam, which ignited during a pyrotechnics display at a concert. His decision to increase the nightclub's capacity, from 317 to 404, was also scrutinized. The parent of at least one victim has called for his suspension.

Yesterday, town officials said Larocque was not pressured to resign his post, and they insisted The Station fire was unrelated to Larocque's recent decision. The battalion chief's position that opened Sept. 1 when Willette retired was at least the second such vacancy since The Station fire. Another battalion chief had resigned earlier, about a year after the nightclub fire, and Larocque did not apply for that opening in the fire suppression division, Tellier said.

"It was his decision. There was an opening and he stepped down," said Town Council President Jeanne-Marie DiMasi, who added that Larocque declined a temporary paid leave that the council offered after The Station fire. "It was a surprise to us. He had already stepped down when we found out about it."

Councilman Peter F. Calci Jr. said the transfer will help relieve stress for Larocque, who will be expected to testify in lawsuits stemming from the deadly blaze. But his decision, Calci said, was likely unrelated to the pending litigation.

"He feels that he's done the job. People can feel pretty confident that no town official has ever thought of pushing him out of the job or forcing retirement," Calci said. "It's a very stressful ordeal that the building official and fire marshal [went through] with all the scrutiny they've been placed under."

Larocque's new schedule -- two day shifts followed by two night shifts and four days off -- will be more flexible than is possible for administrators, Hall said. The lateral move, Tellier added, is not uncommon. The fire marshal post is a time-consuming and high-pressure job, he said, and most firefighters join the department to fight fires.

Larocque had logged at least 1,911 hours of overtime in the four years before The Station fire, working an average of at least nine hours of overtime per week reviewing construction plans, inspecting buildings and investigating the causes of fires. The municipal fire marshal is also charged with educating townspeople about fire safety.

"That position is a lot of work. You work every single day, and it seems like your workload just increases with all the mills and development," Tellier said. "[Larocque] said he was ready to come back to the truck. In your heart, you always want to be a firefighter."

Benjamin N. Gedan can be reached at bgedan [at] projo.com