Time has taken its toll on the makeshift memorial set up a decade ago to recognize the 100 people killed in the Feb. 20, 2003, inferno at The Station nightclub on Route 3.
Nobody expected the memorial to last forever so it's no surprise that the lovingly crafted wooden crosses are now deeply weathered and that many of them frequently fall to the ground.
The stuffed animals, photographs and other items that were once cherished by the memorialized sometimes haphazardly lie about — faded and battered by the elements.
Relatives and friends of the deceased remain deeply devoted to keeping alive the memories of those they lost by occasionally dropping by to right the downed crosses and to clear the 4,484-square-foot parcel of the beer cans, food wrappers and other litter discarded by the teenagers who sometimes hang out at the site.
And though it has been 10 years since the club was ripped apart by the fast-moving blaze, passers-by, most with no connections to the dead, still pull off the busy highway to spend a few minutes at the memorial.
“People haven't forgotten what happened here and that's very important,” said Victoria L. Eagan, who was at the club on the night of the blaze and who is working with others to construct a permanent memorial.
As Ms. Eagan spoke with a reporter, an older man drove his car into what's left of the paved parking lot and spent a few minutes walking about.
The Station nightclub was located in a small, single-story wood frame building at 211 Cowesett Avenue and it showcased heavy metal and rock 'n' roll bands that were popular in the 1980s.
“These were the bands that were featured on posters hanging in the bedrooms of many teens in the 1980s,” Ms. Eagan said. “For a lot of younger adults, The Station was a great place to hang out. You could come down here and pay a small cover charge to see the groups that you adored as a kid.”
On the night of the fire, Great White was the evening's headliner.
The group sold more than 6 million records during the era of the so-called “hair bands.” The group's 1989 album, “. . . Twice Shy,” was the band's best-seller, with the song “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” earning a Grammy nomination.
Shortly after 11 p.m., a member of the band's entourage set off some pyrotechnics and the fireworks ignited the flammable sound insulation foam in the walls and ceilings surrounding the stage area.
Officials estimated that the entire structure was engulfed in flame in about 5 minutes.
In addition to the 100 fatalities, at least 230 people were hurt, some with debilitating injuries. About 130 escaped unscathed.
The Station blaze was the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.
“A nightclub and a fire. Now that's a perfect storm,” said Kathy A. Notarianni, who heads the Fire Protection Engineering Department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. “Just look at the factors involved. The fire starts and nobody can move because the building's so packed in. Adding to the confusion is the loud music and people disoriented by alcohol (consumption).”
Adrian Krasinskas said that he and his friend, Keith Lapierre, a Worcester schoolteacher, had watched Great White perform at the Liquid nightclub in Leominster the previous fall. They liked the band so they decided to drive down to West Warwick to see Great White perform again.
“We thought we were pretty lucky since we were close to the stage,” said Mr. Krasinskas, who works for National Grange Mutual Insurance Co. in Auburn. “But then the fire started and we knew we had to get out of there real quick.”
In a videotape taken at the club, the two could briefly be seen a few rows from the stage.
Mr. Lapierre and Mr. Krasinskas, who forged their friendship at Oxford High School, worked hard to make their way to the building's entrance.
“We came in that door and that's the only way we knew how to get out,” Mr. Krasinskas said.
He said that entrance was blocked by bodies and he collapsed onto the floor.
Mr. Krasinskas said somebody yanked him out of the building.
Once outside, he placed his badly burned hands into some snow. Then he got up and made his way toward Route 3 before collapsing.
He and several others were stuffed by first responders into an ambulance.
Mr. Krasinskas, who suffered burns over 50 percent of his body, was briefly treated at a Rhode Island hospital before being airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
He remained in an induced coma for two months and spent several weeks at a rehabilitation center in Rhode Island.
“But I was lucky,” he said. “I made it out of the building. Keith didn't.”
At the time of the fire, Mr. Lapierre had a 22-month-old son, Ryan, and his wife was expecting a second child in a couple of weeks.
Mr. Krasinskas said that, although he still enjoys going out to see bands perform, he has never returned to the site of the fire.
The 39-year-old said he might go back on Feb. 17 when the design for a permanent memorial is unveiled.
Mr. Krasinskas married Teriann Wyman, the girl he was dating at the time of the fire, and the Oxford couple have two children — Tora, 14, and Kyra, 5.
“I always tell the kids to make sure they know where the exit doors are at any place they visit,” Mr. Krasinskas said.
Meanwhile, Mario Giamei of Sutton, is another area resident who was at the fire and he said his knowledge of the layout of The Station probably saved his life.
“That place went up real fast,” said Mr. Giamei, a former Sutton selectman and former part-time employee of the club.
He said the fire deeply impacted his life because he knew many of the people who died.
“The fire will always be a part of me and there's nothing I can do about that,” Mr. Giamei said. “I am who I am.”
Mr. Giamei, who's in the process of forming a band of his own, said that catastrophes that impact many people occur all the time, noting that a tsunami killed hundreds shortly after The Station fire.
“Stuff happens and I made a decision to move on,” he said. “The incident is still in my mind and very emotional. But I'm not going to throw my life away by continually thinking about it.”
The Station fire prompted many states, including Massachusetts, to beef up fire codes.
In the Bay State, for example, the state Legislature, in 2004, mandated sprinklers for “places of assembly,” such as nightclubs, which have an occupancy of 100 or more. Criminal penalties were also drawn up for individuals who violate provisions of the state building or fire codes.
However, Ms. Notarianni, the WPI professor, said regulations are set up state by state and there is no uniform national code.
“Every state is different,” she said. “But there are some things communities can do to make things safer. For example, mandatory automatic sprinklers take care of a multitude of sins. At the least, they give people a better chance to get out of a burning building.”
Ms. Notarianni added that regular inspections are also a necessity.
“You need accountability from the people who run or own these clubs,” she explained.
Ms. Notarianni noted that science and technology are providing improvements and a better understanding of fire science. For example, materials are less toxic and more fire retardant.
“But human error is one thing that you can never take into account,” she said. “You can have the most up-to-date codes, but, if you pack in people and something happens, you're going to have a disaster.”
Ms. Notarianni said the similarities between The Station Fire and the recent blaze at the Kiss club in southern Brazil where at least 236 died were eerie.
“The Brazil fire mimicked what happened in Rhode Island,” she said.
Heavy death tolls also occurred in recent years at nightclub fires in Argentina and Thailand.
Other countries aside, Ms. Eagan added that even officials in some American states don't take the threat of a catastrophic fire seriously.
“Just look at how they pack them in at the clubs in Vegas,” she said.
Ms. Eagan said she's hoping the new memorial in West Warwick will keep the threat fresh in people's mind.
She said the groundbreaking is scheduled for this spring, adding the project will cost millions.
Ms. Eagan said the memorial will focus in on everyone who died, along with the efforts of first responders.
Since the fire, Ms. Eagan said seven fire survivors have died, three of them taking their own lives. She added that at least three first responders have also killed themselves.
“This fire has impacted so many,” she said.
Sunday 3 February 2013
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