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December 29, 2006

DA: No charges in fatal Fall River social club fire

FALL RIVER, Mass. -- No one will be charged in the deaths of four women who perished in the June fire that tore through a social club as they prepared for a Feast of the Holy Ghost celebration, according to a report made public today by the Bristol County District Attorney’s office.

Though the state fire marshal found several code violations -- the building was not a licensed meeting hall, doors were not solid, opened inward and were not the right width -- the 20-page report states that “there is no evidence to support" that the St. John's Holy Ghost Association "was reckless or wanton in not obtaining the appropriate licenses.”

And the report says “the fact these code violations existed did not contribute to the deaths of these women. There is no evidence that the doors, the location of the doors, the width of the doorways contributed to the death of these women.”

Geraldine Andrade, 63, Emeliana Carvalho, 80, Mary Raposa, 70, and Christina Costa, 30, died in the June 14 fire that began at 7:20 p.m. on the first floor of the 228 County St. social hall. The building’s occupants at the time were St. John’s Holy Ghost Association, Recreation Association Nossa Da Luz, and four apartments.

The state fire marshal's report, which with a memorandum from an assistant district attorney to the district attorney makes up the report, draws parallels to The Station nightclub fire that killed 100 people in West Warwick in 2003.

"The use of large amounts of highly flammable paper and wax impregnated paper decorations in this facility contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. The survivor accounts of this fire sound eerily similar to the survivor accounts from the Coconut Grove, Station Nightclub, and Hartford Circus fire," says the report from State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan.

The fire marshal's report also makes seven recommendations, focusing on fire officials' outreach to social and civic organizations and the use of flammable decorations.

-- Journal staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 2:20 PM | Permalink

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