Station Nightclub Fire 2 Year Anniversary

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Today marks the second anniversary of the horrible Station Nightclub fire in West Warwick RI, which occured on Febuary 20th, 2003, killing 100 people who were trapped in the fully involved building due to limited exits, a mass rush to the one door, and the fast pace of the fire, and severly injuring 200 others who were able to get out.

This was a huge tragedy for the community of West Warwick, a typical close-knit Rhode Island/New England town, as well as the nation. This incident shows that these kind of mass tragedies unfortunetly still occur in the US, and we must be prepared for anything, and be tough with fire codes in these type of venues. This really opened a lot of eyes in the area of Code Enforcment in New England. I'm sure many of you know/remember the details of what occured that night, so I wont get into that. I was living in Boston at the time, had eaten in a resturant across the street from the club several times during the past few years during a stop from my trips between NY and Boston, and working at a hospital ED in Worcester, which recived several of the most critical patients. I knew many people who responded to the scene, and despite the massive challenge, I am amazed how well this incident was handled by everybody. Especially since the arrival of the first-due from WWFD, which is right down the street,it was fully involved from the start.

Currently, there is a consierable criminal charges pending against the owners of the club, and the band who's pyrotechnics started the blaze is doing eveyr underhanded thing they can to deny responsiblity. Flammable foam used to fireproof the walls and ceiling, ignited by the bands illegal pyrotechnics, has been blamed for how quickly the blaze spread. Plans for a permanent memorial at Rhode Islands "Ground Zero" are still being dicussed. The lot remains vacant, with flowers and other tokens of rememberance at a makeshift memorial to this day. The significance of the loss is still fresh in many peoples hearts.

May all the victims rest in peace.

Further Informtation:

Providence Journal:

www.projo.com/blogs/stationfire

Wikipedia Info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_n..._nightclub_fire