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February 20, 2008

Station fire is part of a firefighting lesson plan

Maybe here is some solace, if just a little.

Five years ago tonight, the Station nightclub fire erupted unimaginably before Rhode Islanders' eyes. But in a Pennsylvania school district you may not have heard of, a high school firefighting club now includes a lesson about the West Warwick blaze.

James Startzel, a Hanover, Penn., career firefighter, said by phone today that for the past couple years the club's students typically spend four of their every-two-weeks, half-hour classes going over the Station fire.

"My hearts go out to those people," Startzel said of those affected by the fire. "I feel bad for the families," but he hopes the lessons can save lives, preventing something like the nightclub fire from happening again.

Five years after the fire spawned by hard-rock band Great White's pyrotechnics show, the students in Hanover watch a CD-ROM, put out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, that examines the club and what happened the night of Feb. 20, 2003, Startzel said. The institute puts out CD-Roms focusing on specific fires, such as a house fire that happened in Washington D.C. And those Hanover students who choose to, in their last session, see video from the Station fire, after Startzel warns them that it is difficult.

"I'll tell you, the first time I played this, you could have heard a pin drop," Startzel said. "They were all shocked that this happened."

Startzel said the firefighting club's sessions examine fires in general, the basics on what can happen, use of fire extinguishers, a little bit of everything. They learn that emergency exits are not necessarily a door or doors through which they entered a building or room. Those who wish to don firefighter air-packs and learn about what a firefighter does.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:55 PM | Permalink

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James Startzel | May 4, 2008 4:08 PM link

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