Nightclub Tragedy, One Year Later

Much has happened in the year since The Station fire, which killed 100 people and injured about 200 others after a band's pyrotechnics set the club ablaze on Feb. 20, 2003.

Stringent fire safety measures were enacted, money was raised for victims, the club's owners and a band tour manager were charged and lawsuits were filed.

On Thursday, the eve of the first anniversary of the fire, Gov. Don Carcieri paid tribute to the victims and survivors in a one-hour ceremony, filled with songs, poems and prayers.

"One year ago, Rhode Island was forever changed by The Station fire tragedy. That cold February night brought us all great sorrow and heartache," Carcieri said. "A wave of sadness and disbelief washed over us all. It is a day that will always remain with us."

Memories of the blaze were too much for some people, who left the ceremony in tears and found solace in grief counselors standing by.

"It's hard to be here. It brings everything back," said Kayla Ayer of Coventry. The 16-year-old lost her mother, Tammy, in the fire.

The one-hour ceremony filled with songs, poems and prayers. A memorial also was planned Friday in West Warwick, where the club stood.

"We continue to be in the grieving process," said Sarah Mancini, who lost her 34-year-old son, Keith. "I don't want any of these kids to be forgotten."

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country, easily traveled in under an hour, and its communities are tight knit.

Nearly everyone seemed to know at least one person affected by the fire: the concertgoers, the firefighters and emergency responders, the doctors who treated the burn victims, the dentists who were asked for patients' records to help identify bodies and the schoolchildren who were told their teacher wouldn't be returning to class.

"They say there are six degrees of separation in this world. In Rhode Island, there's a degree and a half," said Attorney General Patrick Lynch after the fire.

The blaze prompted businesses and authorities to improve fire safety. Owners scrambled to ensure they met fire code requirements, and restaurant and tourism associations arranged training seminars for businesses updating their fire safety measures.

"It's all had an impact on the way we do business. We double check everything now," said Richard Lupo, who owns Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel nightclub in Providence.

Gov. Don Carcieri ordered inspections of all nightclubs, and within five months of the blaze, the General Assembly had passed stringent fire-safety measures that included tougher sprinkler requirements for nightclubs and other businesses and a ban on pyrotechnics in nightclubs such as The Station.

Funds set up to help victims' families and survivors collected more than $3.2 million.

Great White, the 1980s rock band whose pyrotechnics started the fire, also went on the road to raise money for victims' families and survivors, angering some people who said the move was insincere.

Lead singer Jack Russell said a benefit tour was the only thing the band, which lost guitarist Ty Longley in the fire, could do to help. The tour eventually raised nearly $65,000.

The fire started after 11 p.m., within moments of Great White taking the stage. A shower of pyrotechnics lit up the club, igniting highly flammable foam placed around the stage as soundproofing. Thick smoke billowed from the one-story wooden building, and when concertgoers couldn't make it to the exits, they bashed through windows, struggling to escape.

Rescue workers arrived three minutes after they received the first of a string of emergency calls and found the building engulfed. Images and sounds of people scrambling to get out were broadcast around the world, all caught by a television cameraman who had coincidentally been at the club that night for a story on safety in public places.

In December, a grand jury indicted the club's owners, brothers Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, and Great White's former tour manager, Dan Biechele, on 200 counts each of involuntary manslaughter. All three pleaded innocent.

The Derderians also were fined $1.07 million for failing to carry workers' compensation insurance for their employees, four of whom died in the disaster.

Victims' families and survivors have filed lawsuits naming the Derderians, Biechele, town officials, the state fire marshal and others, alleging the parties neglected to make the nightclub the safest it could be. At least six lawsuits have been filed.

Many, like Raymond Mattera of Providence, are frustrated that West Warwick's fire and building inspectors weren't charged for failing to note the flammable foam on inspection reports. His daughter, Tammy Mattera-Housa, 29, died in the fire and Mattera and his wife are now taking care of one of Mattera-Housa's two children.

"This isn't something you get over right away."