Coming together Although some survivors of the Station nightclub disaster have been able to resume their lives, efforts continue to help those in need BY BRIAN C. JONES

A BENEFIT CONCERT scheduled for February 25 — five days after the second anniversary of the Station nightclub fire — could help victims in two ways, says Todd King, a fire survivor.

If successful, the benefit would replenish the much-tapped reserves of the Station Family Fund, which has provided more than $500,000 to fire victims. Also, it could be a fitting venue for a reunion of survivors, says King, nothing, "The reason we were at the Station is that we liked music." The fundraiser is to be at the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC), headlined by the metal band Tesla, along with Shinedown and Vanilla Fudge, featuring Pat Travers and Carmine Appice. (More information about the concert and the fund can be found at www.stationfamilyfund.org.)

The fact that the event is being held in the first place is a reminder of how the disaster, two years later, remains an urgent and painful part of the lives of many New Englanders.

One hundred people died as a direct result of the fire, and 200 more were injured from a crowd believed to have numbered more than 400 at the West Warwick nightclub.

Many survivors have been able to resume their lives, says the Reverend John E. Holt, executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches. But some are unemployed or have had to take jobs paying less than they were earning before the fire.

Holt has helped oversee services provided to victims, from the $3.2 million that poured in from 6000 donors, to a charity that became known as the Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund, managed initially by the United Way of Rhode Island and later by the Rhode Island Foundation. Among those struggling the most are burn victims, notes Holt, saying for them, "It is a long, long process. It’s not a matter of months; it’s a matter of years."

An example of the multitude of needs: recently, $1200 was authorized from what remains from the $700,000 raised, for a special ambulance bringing a burn victim to a Boston hospital and back.

Jeffrey Brusini, vice president of Family Service of Rhode Island, which continues to provide case management to survivors under a five-year contract with the relief fund, says 38 people are considered "severely burned" with third-degree burns. Brusini says Family Service has counseled another 71 people who have lesser burns or other kinds of injuries, such as crush wounds suffered in the panic as people sought to escape the fire, as well as 47 who had unspecified injuries.

For some who escaped, the fire worsened their lives economically as well as physically and emotionally. "There is no way they ever will be able to get back to the standard of living they had before the fire," Brusini says. For instance, a few had to give up homes for which they couldn’t afford mortgage or rental payments.

HOLT AND OTHERS say there is no way to generalize how the survivors and families are coping as a group. Some have been able to move past the experience.

Brusini says Family Service is getting inquiries from survivors seeking mental health counseling. He sees that as a good sign — that they are preparing to put their experience into a perspective that will allow them to focus on the future.

A "large minority" of the survivors is angry or still troubled, Brusini and Holt say, because they feel that some people who might have helped prevent the fire are not facing criminal charges.

Three people were indicted: Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, owners of the club, and Daniel Biechele, tour manager of Great White, the band that was playing that night. Each is charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Authorities believe the fire began when sparks from a fireworks display ignited soundproofing foam. Critics wonder why local or state inspectors charged with checking safety conditions at the club never flagged the foam hazard. "There’s a lot of unfinished business" for this group, Brusini says. The case of those indicted is moving slowly. Last month, the Providence Journal reported that the judge predicted the trial may not start until January 2006.

Meanwhile, the fire left behind 170 children, many of whom lost one or both parents. Other children are of those injured or traumatized in the fire.

On this front, an educational fund has been established to provide tuition assistance to the children for the next two decades, says Rick Schwartz, a spokesman for the Rhode Island Foundation. About $250,000 has been set aside from unspent relief fund monies. When invested, the fund should produce individual tuition grants of $1200 for each of four years of post-secondary education or training, Schwartz says.

Family Service is preparing to send letters to families of these children — some of them toddlers, others now adults — to see if they want to apply for the assistance.

Meanwhile, the separate Station Family Fund, which was founded by survivors and relatives of those who died, works to meet urgent needs, such as rent or food, of still-struggling victims. Todd King, the Station Family Fund’s vice president, says the group is driven to help survivors, while at the same time, finding it still difficult to think back on the tragedy.

King was at the club with his wife, Theresa. They managed to get to the entrance of the Station when the flames exploded.

"We got shoved and stuck in the pile of people," King says, and he says they still don’t know how they got out. Immediately, they turned to helping the injured, including those whose clothes were on fire, and threw themselves into the snow to extinguish the flames. "We were grabbing people, pulling people out of snow banks," King says, and then carrying them to where paramedics were operating a treatment area.

King says survivors established their Station Family Fund when they learned that one of them, a woman with a six-year-old daughter, had become homeless. The group’s Web site says that as of December, about $536,000 has been raised and $521,000 distributed.

The benefit concert came about when some fund members went backstage seeking out members of the Tesla band when it played Lupo’s in downtown Providence in May 2004, and handed them an information packet about the fund. Weeks later, the drummer, Troy Luccketta, called King to say the band wouldn’t be able to do a benefit, but would provide autographed materials for a fund-raising auction.

Luccketta asked how the Station Family Fund was doing, and King said money was so short at the moment that group members were reaching into their own pockets to pay one victim’s rent. The musician seemed taken aback. Twenty minutes later, he called again, saying the band wanted to do a show.

According to publicity materials for the concert, the event is being "hosted" by the Wake Up to Love Foundation, whose Web site, www.wakeuptolove.com, it says, was established by Luccketta and his wife, Phyllis.

King says 20 percent of the proceeds will go to "The Doc Fund," established by WHJY-FM, in memory of Mike Gonsalves, a 40-year-old disc jockey for the radio station. Known as "Doctor Metal," Gonsalves was the MC that night and died in the blaze.

King is living in North Carolina, where he is a distribution supervisor for a health-care company, but he says he may move back to Rhode Island. Busy with planning the benefit concert and other fund activities, King says the trauma of the fire remains acute. "Focusing on that night is very bad," he says. "We weren’t mentally prepared for this to happen. We went to a rock concert."

Brian C. Jones can be reached at brijudy@cox.net.