Digital Extra: The Station Fire

James Paolucci, vice president of the Cowesett Inn, West Warwick, and Victoria Potvin Eagan, founder of the Station Family Fund, receive the Rhode Island's Hope Award for "selfless acts of courage" in helping victims of the fire.

11:01 AM EST on Monday, February 20, 2006

BY TOM MOONEY and W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS

The crowd mingling among the crosses in West Warwick grows smaller every year.

Two years ago, during the first anniversary of the Station nightclub fire, some 1,500 people gathered to remember the 100 people who died here. Last February's memorial service drew several hundred.

Yesterday about 300 relatives and friends of the dead and a few survivors came -- members of a club that Anne Marie D'Alessio, executive director of the Rhode Island Victims' Advocacy & Support Center, said was an exclusive one "which chose you; you didn't chose it."

They laid flowers and cards on their loved-ones' individual shrines, reintroduced themselves to those they may have seen last year, wept in the embrace of supporters, and asked a common question to the newcomers: "Who did you lose?"

The visit to the site of the old roadhouse club, which burned down Feb. 20, 2003, after a rock band's pyrotechnics ignited flammable packing foam on the walls, was nothing new to Jane Sylvester, of Coventry, whose son, Jason, died in the fire.

"I come here all the time," she said, "for his birthday, for Halloween, for Valentine's Day. I don't care how cold it is or if I have to trudge through the snow."

She said she comes because "this was the final place where he was. When he left that night [to attend the Great White concert], I never thought I would never see him again. He was so happy to be coming here."

Her son and the other 99 who died, she said, "all deserve to have someone come and think of them."

The tributes on the third anniversary of the deadly fire continued last night at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, in Cranston. There, about 200 people gathered in the ballroom for the presentation of Rhode Island's Hope Award to two people "who exhibited selfless acts of courage and performed above and beyond the call of duty during a tragedy or emergency."

Journal photo / Bob Thayer

Jennifer Loring and Scott Corneau, both of Pawtucket, attend a service yesterday at the Station fire site, in West Warwick. Loring's cousin Tammy Mattera Housa died in the blaze.

Governor Carcieri and his wife, Sue, recognized James Paolucci, vice president of the Cowesett Inn, in West Warwick, and Victoria Potvin Eagan, founder of The Station Family Fund, which raised money for the families and victims of the fire.

"They reached beyond what anyone could have expected them to do and have made a difference for those whose lives were transformed on that fateful night," Carcieri said.

Paolucci was cited for his generosity in opening the doors of the Cowesett Inn to burn victims, their distraught families and rescue personnel on the night of the fire and days afterward.

"I don't think I did any more that evening than anyone else would have done," Paolucci said. He commended his staff, many of whom came in on their night off, to assist those in need.

Potvin Eagan, who escaped the fire without serious injury, was lauded for launching The Station Family Fund, which has raised $767,650 and helped 250 families in the first year.

Eagan, in accepting the award, said that initially she suffered from survivor's guilt and had no desire to continue living. But, as the days turned into weeks, she began meeting with other survivors and she launched the family fund. Helping others got her through the darkest moments.

She said she was "honored and grateful" to have been part of the lives of the survivors and families of the victims.

Paolucci and Eagan are the first annual Hope Award recipients.

Back in West Warwick, Jessica Garvey, 25, was among those paying tribute to a loved one. She helped organize yesterday's memorial service along with fellow members of The Station Fire Memorial Foundation. Garvey lost her sister Dina A. DeMaio in the fire.

Time's passage helps ease the pain, she said, but forgetting what happened is impossible, especially lately, with so much news about of the three men facing criminal charges from the fire.

Dan Biechele, Great White's former tour manager who set off the pyrotechnics, recently pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter in exchange for a prison sentence of up to 10 years. The cases against the club's co-owners, Jeffrey A. and Michael A. Derderian, is still pending.

If the Derderians' cases go to trial, said Garvey, "I think it's going to bring back a lot of soreness. It will bring you back to that time."

Support center director D'Alessio, who has helped counsel the fire's survivors and the relatives of those who died, urged the group yesterday to stay together and draw strength their mutual support.

Journal photo / Bob Thayer

Renee Walton, of Johnston, holds a rose for her sister, Gina Gauvin, of Johnston, who survived.

"It seems you [have] become more isolated. Where did everybody go?" she asked.

"Use your voice," she said, ". . . for all the potential victims out there, because we know this will happen again." By doing so, she continued, "you will find some measure of justice for your loved ones, and some peace for you."

As part of the memorial service yesterday, the names of the 100 people who died in the fire were read aloud. Nine relatives or friends, and Gina Gauvin, a survivor of the fire, took turns reading the names. Several of their voices cracked when they came to the name of their lost loved one.

The reading was followed by 100 seconds of silence.

And in the cold breeze, the wind chime hanging from the cross of Laura Gillett rang.

tmooney@projo.com / (401) 277-7359

bmalinow@projo.com / (401) 277-7019

THREE YEARS LATER: Journal photographer Mary Murphy narrates a look at the life now of Station fire survivor Gina Gauvin, in words and photos, at:

http://projo.com/ginagauvin

Look back at the disastrous nightclub fire, and its continuing impact on its victims, community and the state, at:

http://projo.com/statiofire