Monday, Feb. 20 will mark the anniversary of one of the nation’s worst nightclub fires, The Station fire, that killed 100 and injured scores more.
The Station Fire Memorial Foundation chaired by Gina Russo plans to mark the 20th anniversary with a remembrance service on Sunday, Feb. 19 at St. Kevin Church in Warwick and then in the spring hold an event at the Station Fire Memorial Park on Cowesett Road in West Warwick on Sunday, May 21.
Sue Stenhouse, who was working in the office of Governor Donald Carcieri at the time of the fire and has remained in touch with many of the victims’ families as well as the foundation, said in an interview concerns were raised over holding a 20th remembrance at the memorial given the uncertainty of the weather.
“Don’t forget we’re all 20 years older,” she said. Stenhouse is a first responder. On the night of the fire and for the days following she fielded calls from relatives and friends of the victims and those injured in the blaze. She worked at the family resource center that operated out of the Crowne Plaza in the weeks after the fire.
She helped plan the early remembrance ceremonies held at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet. A feature of the first ceremony was 25,000 butterflies made by school students, many of which were strung with fishing line from the ceiling. By the second year, organizers recognized not only key first responders at the scene of the fire but also those in hospitals and performing the triage that lead to saving many lives with awards.
As Stenhouse and Gina Russo, a fire survivor who lost her finance that night, started planning the 20th, Stehhouse reached out to Father Robert Marciano, president of Bishop Hendricken High School and pastor of St. Kevin Church. As chaplain of the Warwick Police and Fire Departments, Father Marciano was awakened by his pager about 11 p.m. on the 20th. When paged he thought he might be responding to an accident or house fire. When he arrived, people were still being pulled from the burning building.
“It was the greatest tragedy with the greatest heroes,” he said. The heroes, he said, were the first responders.
Citing how firefighter pay has captured recent headlines, Fr. Marciano said, “They just earned their pay for their entire career.” He observed how some first responders can never escape from the horror they have witnessed.
How does Father Marciano cope with responding to horrific scenes like that of The Station fire?
He said it seems to be a part of his memory that doesn’t haunt him.
“I think when working to relieve suffering, it helps mine…it is making good from bad,” he said.
Father Marciano hugged and wept with the families of victims and held services at the family center. On the night of the fire he learned that those who without second thought ran from the nightclub while many of those who thought the flames were part of the show were burned or lost their lives. He recalls how the Cowesett Inn across from the nightclub became the triage center with tables being pushed together as places to provide fist treatment with rescues responding from multiple communities to transport them to hospitals.
While Father Marciano will assist The Coadjutor Bishop of Providence, Bishop Richard Henning, DD, at the Feb. 19 mass at St. Kevin, which will include communion, he aims for the service to be inclusive of all denominations and faiths.
“This is a good option to reach out to the community,” he said. All churches within the Diocese of Providence have been asked to join in ringing their bells at noon on Feb. 19. The mass will begin at 10 a.m. A reception hosted by the Ladies of St. Kevin will follow in Father O’Hara Hall.
Stenhouse said she and Russo, president of the Station Fire Memorial Foundation concurred that a church would be the best location to conduct the remembrance. She said it is a safe place where people feel comfortable coming together.
As for inclusion of elected officials including Gov. Dan McKee and of those who played significant roles 20 years ago including former Gov. Carcieri and General Reginald Centracchio, “I don’t see it as political,” she said. “It’s universal that brings key players together.”
“The time has gone by but I know for so many the loss never fades” said Father Marciano.
Russo agrees. She said nothing will heal the pain of those who lost loved ones in the fire. She said she feels “grateful and blessed to have been given 20 more years.”
“So much good has come out of so much bad,” she said of friendships built and what has come from the evil of that night.
“If you give back and do good it brings peace.”
While remembrances will always focus on those who perished, she sees the event as a time for life.
“I should be able to celebrate my life and the lives of other survivors.”
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