Digital Extra: The Station Fire

Three years after the fire at The Station nightclub claimed 100 lives, the state isn't certain how many clubs have complied with new fire laws, and hasn't launched new enforcement measures.

01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, February 28, 2006

BY MARK ARSENAULT
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- July 1 is supposed to be the date Rhode Island nightclubs become the safest in the nation by installing sprinkler systems as required by laws passed after the 2003 fire at The Station nightclub.

Three years after the fire, the governor's records show that very few sprinkler-system installations have been completed in nightclubs, raising doubt that this summer's deadline will hold.

In December 2004, the state fire marshal's office identified 74 clubs that needed to install sprinklers.

Now, 14 months later, the number is 70. The number of clubs that still need to install fire alarms that connect to their municipal fire department is unchanged -- 57 clubs, according to lists provided by the governor's office.

How close some of these facilities are to coming into compliance is unknown. In response to questions from The Journal, Governor Carcieri acknowledged through a spokesman that he lacks the information to judge his administration's progress in enforcing the sprinkler law.

"As the governor's office has looked into the status of how many nightclubs are in compliance, we have determined that we do not have sufficient information at this time to answer that question," said Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal.

Carcieri directed the state fire marshal's office to perform a more detailed survey of the progress of sprinkler installation in each community, and report back by March 15, Neal said. He said the report should cover: Which facilities are in compliance? Which are not? What is the status of any requests for extensions or variances?

"Exactly what I predicted would happen is happening," said state Rep. Peter T. Ginaitt, D-Warwick, one of the architects of the 2003 overhaul of the Rhode Island fire code. "People are not coming into compliance. This is what we feared all along. I just think these numbers [of clubs without sprinklers] should be dropping more dramatically than they have."

In addition to requiring sprinklers in many clubs, the 2003 fire laws authorized new enforcement tools for fire inspectors, two of which are still not in place.

The law gives inspectors the authority to issue tickets, similar to traffic tickets, for certain fire-code violations. The ticketing system is still not ready.

The law also requires the state fire marshal to post repeat and uncorrected fire-code violations on a Web site. That isn't happening, either.

All these fire-safety requirements were approved after The Station nightclub in West Warwick burned down, on Feb. 20, 2003, taking 100 lives.

The law set a deadline of July 1, 2005, for clubs holding more than 300 people to install sprinklers; it established a deadline of July 1, 2006, for clubs that hold 150 to 300 people. Smaller clubs are exempt.

In September 2004, Carcieri expressed support for maintaining the deadlines, as closely as possible. "I won't be satisfied personally if what we see is a lot of people coming in for extensions," he said then.

Already, some extensions have been given. Banquet facilities have received an extension from the Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review, giving them until Oct. 31 to install sprinklers.

Steve Lombardi, an owner of Lombardi's 1025 Club, in Johnston, helped win the extension for banquet halls. His club's sprinkler system has been designed, but installation will be difficult, and he has to fit construction around events that have already been booked, he said. He said he expects to file for another extension before the new deadline.

Is there any way all Rhode Island clubs and halls can meet the deadline? "No," Lombardi said. "This is really a 10-year retrofit" that the law is requiring in three years.

Carcieri last week declined repeated requests for an interview to discuss his administration's efforts in enforcing the sprinkler code. "The governor believes his staff can address these questions adequately," said Neal. Carcieri is away for several days this week at a National Governors' Association conference, in Washington, D.C.

Neal said part of the problem with the old way the governor's office has been collecting information on sprinkler installation is that the list does not categorize the capacity of the clubs, so it is unclear which which deadlines apply to which clubs. A spokesman for the Rhode Island Hospitality & Tourism Association, who reviewed the governor's Februrary 2006 list last week, claimed to have found several inaccuracies.

The fire marshal's office, which compiles the lists, is currently in transition. After more than 10 years in the job, former state Fire Marshal Irving J. Owens retired in December.

Owens' appointment had expired in 2004; Carcieri let Owens stay on the job for more than a year, but did not reappoint him to another 5-year term. Instead, the governor formed a search committee and solicited résumés for the marshal's job. When the committee recommended Owens be reappointed, Carcieri did not take their advice.

After Owens retired, the governor named State Police Col. Steven Pare to lead the fire marshal's office temporarily. Pare designated the day-to-day management to State Police Lt. John Blessing.

Carcieri will give Blessing more time to address "management problems" at the marshal's office before the governor hires a permanent fire marshal, Neal said.

"Right now, the governor believes the state police are working through some of the management problems at the state fire marshal's office, and he wants to give them a chance to determine how the office is operated and recommend changes that are needed," Neal said. The statement is unusual -- the administration has been reluctant to criticize Owens' management in the past.

Getting the fire-code ticketing system working is a "top priority" for Blessing, Neal said. It could be working by this spring, he said.

The ticketing system has defied predictions for years. Owens said in 2003 that he wanted to have the system working by early 2004; in September 2004, he said he wanted to have it working by that November. In February 2005, Carcieri's office said the fire marshal was "nearly ready to begin the ticketing process."

Listing repeat violators on the fire marshal's Web site is a matter of improving the way data is collected from the cities and towns, Neal said. "The governor hopes the report he is asking for now will provide a basis for jump-starting that system of reporting," Neal said.

Lombardi, from the 1025 Club, said financing remains the biggest obstacle to sprinkler installation. Nobody in state or local government "has come forward to help us out," he said. He estimates his club's system may cost $400,000.

"Small business in this state has been forgotten about," Lombardi said. "You want to be the safest state in the nation? Then you have to help us out."

His banquet customers are generally working people, he said. "How much cost can I pass along to them? You can't keep raising the price weekly . . . . A lot of us business owners are looking at this, and asking the same question: 'How do I sign a contract [for sprinklers] for such an amount of money, not knowing how I'm going to pay for it?' "

marsenau@projo.com / (401) 277-7231