Crime & Safety

Families of Victims of Station Night Club Fire that Killed Three from Attleboro Ask Town to Take Land by Eminent Domain

Next month families will ask West Warwick officials to take the the land of the Station Night Club by eminent domain.

Chris Fontaine, president of the Station Fire Memorial Foundation, told hundreds of people gathered at the site of the 2003 blaze Sunday they'll ask West Warwick to take the land by eminent domain.

The tragedy began when pyrotechnics during a performance of the band Great White at the club set fire to sound proofing foam inside the building, according to a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report. It claimed the lives of Attleboro residents Richard A. Cabral Jr., Kevin J. Dunn and Walter Rich. Altogether, 100 people died in the fire, and many others were injured.

The 211 Cowesett Ave., West Warwick property was covered by a foot of hardened snow, through which home-made crosses poked. Each bore some colorful decoration left there by a caring hand: photos, garlands, balloons and flowers contrasted brightly against the bland winter landscape. In one corner, a narrow path was carved through the white, foot-deep crust to the memorial for Kelly Vieira of West Warwick. Vieira's daughter, Chandree' Kozlin, knelt there silently, long black hair across her face. Family and friends of others lost in the fire made their way down the path to Vieira's spot, where the path ended, then stepped up on the field of concrete-hard snow to make their way to the other memorials. Kozlin remained focused on her mother's spot as they passed.

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Foundation members envision a much more elaborate memorial site.

The land was promised to the foundation in 2008, director of the Station Fire Memorial Foundation Dave Kane said. He and his wife, Joanne O'Neil Kane, lost their son, Nicholas O'Neil, in the fire. At the time, Joanne said, they lived in Cranston, but have since moved to Johnston. "We feel that Nick is with us and he leaves with us when we leave this place, and that's what gets us through," Joanne said.

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Dave said the lawyer for Triton Realty, which owns the property, told him the land would be transferred to the foundation once all the settlements been made to people injured and to the families of the 100 who died in the fire. Kane said that happened in July 2010 - a total of about $178 million paid by parties involved in the tragedy, among them Clear Channel, Anheuser-Busch, the Town of West Warwick, the state of Rhode Island, and Triton Realty.

Dave said he waited until a few weeks after Christmas of 2010 to follow up on the pledge, but company representatives stopped answering his calls. The lack of communication has persisted since, he said. So, at the next West Warwick Town Council meeting in March, Kane said, "We're going to request that they take it by eminent domain."

After Fontaine's announcement and introduction, she introduced 100 minutes of silence. Rabbi George Astrachan, retired from Temple Sinai in Cranston, followed with the invocation, after which an announcer recited the names of all 100 people who died in the fire. At the end of the list of names, bouquets of balloons were released into the cold air and were quickly carried away to the east.

Following the ceremony, friends of Ed Ervanian - Paul Bertolo of Brockton, Michael Magee of North Providence and Eric Williams of North Kingstown - stood talking with each other at the edge of the snow on the property.

"We're all survivors," Magee Williams said. "It was nice," Eric Williams said.

Bertolo pointed out his contribution to the memorial site - a large, white, heart-shaped sign with white and blue lights. "I made that for the first anniversary. Brought it here every year," he said. 


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