Digital Extra: The Station Fire

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, March 25, 2006

BY MARK ARSENAULT
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The news this week that 22 nightclubs had missed sprinkler or fire-alarm installation deadlines by as much as 20 months brought complaints of uneven enforcement from a number of nightclub owners, who must pay the costs to improve fire safety.

Anne Senerchia learned that her business fell short of fire-alarm requirements only when she read the list in the newspaper, she said. Her place -- Daniel B's Restaurant and Lounge, in South Kingstown -- appeared on the state fire marshal's list of clubs that had missed a July 2004 deadline for having a municipally connected fire alarm.

"I feel like I have to post a sign: 'Contrary to what you might have read, we are not intentionally negligent,' " Senerchia said. She said her business was inspected three times in 2004, and had never been informed that it qualified under the legal definition of a nightclub. Nightclubs, under the state's definition, provide entertainment and earn more than 50 percent of their income through beverage sales and cover charges, rather than food.

State law set a deadline of July 1, 2004, for any nightclub that can hold 150 people or more to install an alarm that connects automatically to its local fire departments. Some smaller clubs must have local fire alarms.

The state fire marshal's office had conducted a survey over the past several weeks to assess compliance with the fire-alarm and sprinkler requirements that were set into law in 2003, after The Station nightclub burned down and killed 100 people. The results of the survey were made public Monday.

The survey found that 99 of 155 Rhode Island nightclubs are in compliance. A similar survey in December 2004 found that about 73 of 160 nightclubs were in compliance.

The latest survey also found that 22 clubs had missed sprinkler or alarm deadlines. The fire marshal's office said it is contacting each of those clubs, giving them 30 days to come into compliance with the fire code, or to apply for more time from the new Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review.

"If that's what the law states, we'll comply," Senerchia said. She says what upsets her is, "Now we find out we've been out of compliance for two years, and we're going to have thirty days to fix it."

Edna Anzevino, an owner of the LA Cafe, in West Warwick, was also named in the fire marshal's report as having missed the alarm deadline.

The LA Cafe, which has a local alarm, according to Anzevino, had been operating with an occupancy limit of 122 -- below the level that would require a municipally connected fire alarm. The marshal's report lists the club's maximum occupancy at 152, triggering additional alarm and sprinkler requirements.

Anzevino said she had learned of the need for a new alarm system earlier this month, when her club's occupancy was recalculated by the local Fire Department.

"We didn't kill 100 people, but we're paying the price," said Anzevino, who added that she lost friends in the Station fire. "Everybody else is paying for that mistake. Everybody is going to go out of business, and then what's the state going to do? You get real tired of being pushed around."

Noting other recent laws that she says hurt her business, such as the raising of the meals tax and the ban on smoking in bars, she said the government has become too much a Big Brother. "This is pathetic," she said. "We might as well change the name of the state to Russia."

Joseph Manfredi, owner of Platforms, in Providence, said his club appeared on the marshal's list, even though his new alarm system was on the verge of being completed. He said deadlines for clubs to upgrade allowed too little time. "This should have been a 5- or 10-year plan," he said. "In the meantime, they could have allowed clubs to add more exits, for a few hundred dollars each, until they could afford sprinklers.

"There was a rush to judgment after the fire and a lack of communication. There hasn't been enough organization of ideas funneled to the clubs to help them out."

Mark T. Senna, a member of the board of governor's at the Barrington Democratic Club, said his organization of about 100 members had had to spend about $9,000 to install an alarm in its function hall, or be shut down.

He offered a different take on clubs that had missed the deadlines. "I think the towns should take immediate action," he said. "These clubs should come into compliance; they've had enough time. We were told we'd be immediately shut down" if the Democratic Club missed its deadline. "Ignorance of the law isn't a viable defense. Some of these places are big businesses. . . . they're making huge profit margins, compared to our place."

Jeff Neal, a spokesman for Governor Carcieri, said the state police -- temporarily leading the state fire marshal's office -- are "undertaking a number of reforms in that office" to improve fire-code enforcement.

"As the governor has pointed out," Neal said, "one of the major flaws in that office is that the state fire marshal is responsible for enforcing the code, but the majority of the inspections are done by the local fire marshals. As a result, it's possible that flaw could have led to somewhat different levels of enforcement. That is why the governor has asked the state police and the fire marshal's office for recommendations to correct those flaws in the system."

The next major deadline in the fire code is three months away: nightclubs that can hold 150 to 300 people must install sprinkler systems by July 1.

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