Few Changes After Club Blaze Killed 100

The deadly Rhode Island blaze prompted fire marshals across the nation to review their safety inspections. At least 15 states debated tougher laws, mostly dealing with pyrotechnics, and a national fire safety association approved more stringent safety recommendations. But national fire safety experts say it could take years for many other states to follow Rhode Island's lead.

``It's not my sense that (the Rhode Island) fire is poised to make profound change,'' said David Lucht, director of the Center for Firesafety Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. ``We don't as a society take fire safety that seriously.''

Since the nation's fourth-deadliest nightclub fire, eight other states _ Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New York and North Carolina _ approved tighter rules for indoor fireworks. Cities also debated changes, with Boston banning indoor pyrotechnics.

``The fire absolutely put the issue on the radar screen,'' said Julie Heckman, executive director of the Maryland-based American Pyrotechnics Association. ``What we saw in Rhode Island was the blatant misuse of indoor pyrotechnics.''

The association, which includes 260 companies, wants all states to adopt uniform standards and licensing requirements for fireworks use.

The Rhode Island blaze _ sparked by a pyrotechnic show by the band Great White _ was the impetus for standards approved last summer by the Quincy, Mass.-based National Fire Protection Association. The group now recommends requiring sprinklers in every new club serving at least 50 patrons, and in every existing club serving at least 100.

Thirty-four states, including Rhode Island, voluntarily adopted the group's previous recommendations. It could be another decade before the association knows how broadly its new standards will be adopted, said NFPA assistant Vice President Robert Solomon.

``It will be a more drawn-out process,'' he said. ``We've seen good things come from these types of tragedies.''

State Rep. Peter Ginaitt, a Warwick firefighter who was among the first responders to the nightclub fire, said Rhode Island won't consider the new NFPA standards until the state evaluates the effect of its own new regulations.

The state's new code prohibits pyrotechnics in all but its largest public venues, and most nightclubs must have sprinklers by July 2005. The code also gets rid of the ``grandfathering'' statutes that allowed older buildings to ignore new safety standards.

Many of the changes go into effect on Feb. 20, the first anniversary of the fire.

Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri said he hoped the new regulations ``would set the stage for what happens nationwide, to make sure this never happens again.''

But even in Rhode Island, lawmakers faced resistance from businesses concerned about the cost of sprinklers. Some officials also doubted the state's ability to enforce the phased-in requirements.

``It hurt to make those changes because we knew we were hurting the people who would ultimately pay'' for sprinklers and other improvements, said Ginaitt, who was co-chairman of a state commission that recommended many of the new safety regulations.

While the legacy of The Station fire outside Rhode Island may be uncertain, it's clearly changed attitudes in the nation's smallest state.

``There's a greater awareness, not only on the part of owners but their patrons,'' said Bill Howe, chief of inspections for the state fire marshal. ``We get more complaints ... people who might have accepted things in the past no longer do.''

Some businesses, such as West Warwick's Cowesett Inn, have taken their own safety measures.

The inn, which is across the street from where The Station stood and served as a makeshift triage center on the night of the fire, has added a diagram of the restaurant to the back of its menus. Evacuation plans are now posted on the walls, and the staff counts patrons to avoid overcrowding.

``They're not required to do it, it's just good fire prevention,'' state Fire Marshal Irving Owens said.