Fred Sneesby - Observations on Culture, Faith and Politics

The Station Fire: The Systems Failed Them

October 6, 2006

I have been trying to imagine how I would react to the courtroom disposition of charges brought against the owners of The Station nightclub for their part in the fire that destroyed the club if one of my family members had been burned in that fire.

(For those from outside Rhode Island, there was a terrible fire in February of 2003 at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island on the night of a Great White concert, a heavy metal band. One hundred people died in the fire and a couple of hundred were injured, some very seriously burned. It was later learned that the building housing the club had been soundproofed using a highly flammable foam, that the local fire inspectors had given the club a passing grade, that the club was overcrowded the night of the fire, and that the pyrotechnics used in the show that set off the fire were used without official approval. The court accepted a no-contest plea from the club owners and imposed a four year prison term on one and 500 hours of community service on the other. Many surviviors and familes of victims were angry with the sentences and with knowing that the facts would not come out without a trial. They were left with giving victims' impact statements to the court; these were broadcast on local radio.)

I simply cannot do it. Imagining it is too much to bear, never mind actually losing someone like that in real life. I happened to listen to some of the testimony broadcast live from the courtroom that day on the radio in the car. It brought me to tears. The grief and the hurt were overpowering. So was the anger.

Anger is a natural part of any loss. But this was not just that kind of anger. It was an anger fueled also by betrayal. It was quite clear that the families who were giving impact statements felt deeply betrayed by “the system.” As a matter of fact, they had been betrayed by a few systems.

“He’s a product of the public school system.” “Our system of government is the best in the world.” “She works in the health care system.” “They’re lucky to have a good transportation system.” “We have a complex system of justice.” You can go on and on. We all participate in a variety of systems. We would like to think that these “systems” are kind of neutral, that is, that they are without prejudice or favorites, that they are simply there for use by the general public; everyone can access them and have success if they cooperate and play by the rules.

It doesn’t take much reflection to realize that this isn’t true. The systems that serve us are very unfair. The educational system may like the industrious but those who are from stable families and well-fed and well-clothed certainly have a leg up. The health care system best serves the well-insured and resourceful. And our government and judicial systems function not for the good of all but for the benefit of the connected. It is in understanding the working of the government and court systems in Rhode Island that the tragedy of The Station nightclub fire is amplified. The victims of the fire, surviving families included, didn’t stand a chance.

Why weren’t the fire safety code rules enforced at the Station nightclub? Probably because they were as unevenly and unenthusiastically insisted upon as in the rest of the state with most other clubs and businesses. It is part of the political culture that inspectors and regulators will not be too zealous especially if you are part of the political/business network, the good ol’ boy and girl system that is the arena for the practical work of the government. Do government officials intend to hurt or kill people? Of course not. But the laxity, the laziness, the look-the-other-way method of enforcement can be just as deadly as a direct act of violence as we have seen that February night.

Why hasn’t the judicial process yielded the real story of the events leading up to that night? Is it because truth and justice are not the primary goals of the system anymore? Is it that appeasement, settlement, and finding the path of least trouble and resistance have replaced them as pursuits of the courts? Isn’t it true that the wealthy and well-positioned have hope for better outcomes from the courts that most ordinary people?

The fact is that who you are, who you know, how much you’re worth, and the connections you have are the real determinants in whether or not the systems will work for you.

The systems failed the victims of The Station nightclub fire. Not every one of them; certainly the emergency workers and the health care workers came through to a large extent. But the local government and the courts sure let them down.

You couldn’t listen to the families’ testimony or read the many stories surrounding these events without also wondering if the victims’ belief systems did not also fail them. It would be incredibly instructive to survey the surviving victims and families to ask about their journeys of faith throughout this ordeal. In their worst hour, were these people betrayed by the God(s) and religions in which they had invested and hoped?

I imagine that such conversations would reveal answers and reflections with more depth and wisdom and complexity than most of us could fathom. The richness of their religious experience would match the enormity of their pain. I suspect that, at least in the Christian tradition whose founder was outcast and executed and who brought redemption through suffering, we might find that their beliefs served them well.

As we move on, I hope that those of us who did not lose a relative to that fire will think of our own roles in the many systems we live in and resolve not to be satisfied with business as usual: not in the way we do our jobs, not in the way we seek justice for other people, not in the way we regard civic life, and not in the way we believe.