As the July 1 deadline to install sprinkler systems in nightclubs with capacities of 150 to 299 grows near, many are still struggling to come into compliance with Rhode Island’s fire codes, which are some of the most stringent in the country.
A report released by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s office shows that 56 of Rhode Island’s 155 nightclubs – broadly defined to include everything from local pubs to martini bars to Newport Grand – still need the required sprinklers, alarm systems or both.
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Nightclubs aren’t the only businesses that must install sprinklers, but Jeff Neal, spokesman for the governor, said Carcieri asked the state fire marshal’s office to look specifically at nightclubs because that was the type of venue involved in the 2003 fire at The Station that inspired revisions to state fire codes, making them stricter than before.
Organized dining facilities also must comply with the new fire codes, Neal said. The governor’s office is receiving reports on compliance of those as well, but has not asked the state fire marshal for a detailed report. (Organized dining facilities are any type of facility that could be rented out by private parties, such as a wedding.)
“The first priority was to find out the compliance status of nightclubs,” Neal said, because nightclubs have the highest risk factors and a nightclub fire prompted revisions to the fire code. The governor made nightclub compliance the first priority “to make sure nothing like that happens in a Rhode Island nightclub again.”
Neal said Carcieri ordered the detailed report on nightclub compliance in late February, about seven months after the second deadline for compliance had passed.
When asked why the governor waited so long to ask for a detailed report on compliance, Neal said it’s because the governor didn’t realize the periodic compliance reports he had been receiving from the state fire marshal’s office were inaccurate and incomplete until after he appointed state police personnel to head the office in December. When state police took over, Carcieri was made aware that reporting from local fire inspectors was not up to date.
Sixteen venues with capacities of 100 or more missed the July 1, 2004, deadline for installing municipally connected fire alarms. Four with capacities of 300 or more missed the July 1, 2005, deadline for installing sprinklers. Two venues missed the deadline for both.
The rest – totaling 34 clubs – either have variances pending (meaning they are making efforts to comply but have not yet been able to do so) or are preparing to meet this year’s July 1 deadline for venues with 150 to 299 capacities to install sprinklers.
When asked why the clubs are allowed to remain open, acting state fire marshal Lt. John Blessing said it’s because the fire marshal’s office has no documentation of proper notice having been given to those clubs to comply.
“They have to be given proper notice,” Blessing said. “We can shut them down,” but first they must receive a summons from the fire marshal.
The fire marshal’s office depends on local fire inspectors to inspect the buildings and provide the proper notice, then report back to the office. Blessing said it is a challenge to keep that information between the state and local fire departments flowing.
“One of the things we have learned since the governor appointed state police as the temporary state fire marshal is there is a real disconnect between the [fire marshal’s office] and inspectors in local communities,” Neal said.
Because “nothing in state law explicitly requires those local inspectors to report their findings back to the state fire marshal’s office in any systemic fashion,” Carcieri said in a statement, “state authorities have an incomplete picture of the compliance status of most nightclubs and other facilities throughout the state.”
Carcieri called that lack of oversight over the day-to-day activities of local inspectors a “major flaw in the current system,” and said it “undermines the state’s ability to enforce fire laws.”
But some municipalities say they already are working with the state by sending information along about inspection for fire code compliance.
Lt. William Sisson, an assistant deputy state fire marshal in the Pawtucket Fire Department, said the city’s fire inspectors work hand in hand with the state office.
“We do reports and inspections and forward information to state authorities,” Sisson said. “That’s how we work. I can’t speak for the whole state.”
Two Pawtucket nightclubs are not in compliance, but since the law makes it the state fire marshal’s responsibility to enforce the fire code, there is not much local inspectors can do to make the nightclubs comply.
Blessing said once the state fire marshal’s office was made aware of the non-compliance of nightclubs by surveying local fire inspectors for the report, the office issued notices, giving the clubs 30 days to comply.
If the nightclubs don’t comply within the 30 days, Blessing said, the next step is summoning them to District Court, where a judge will decide the proper action to take. The clubs could apply for a variance within the 30 days to ask for more time.
About 24 nightclubs have variance requests pending, according to the report.
Rick Lewis, co-owner of the Red Rock Bar & Grill in North Kingstown, was surprised to discover his business was on the variance list, though Lewis said one of the other co-owners could have applied for it without his knowledge.
Red Rock is in the process of installing a sprinkler system before the July 1 deadline for nightclubs with 150 to 299 capacities. Lewis called the efforts to come into compliance with the state’s revised fire codes a “nonstop battle since day one.”
“Business is slow,” he said. “We’re struggling.”
It cost the business $5,000 to install the municipal fire alarm system and it’s costing an additional $25,000 to install the sprinkler system, he said. And the business still has to pay to bring the water from the street to the building.
“The main problem is having people comply,” Sisson said, citing the lack of time and money as reasons many businesses have yet to install the proper alarm and sprinkler systems. “The general outlook from business owners is they want to comply. … Unfortunately, without bringing them up to code, we would not be able to keep them operating.”
