Award-Winning Journalist James Discusses 20th Anniversary of the Station Fire
Monday, February 20, 2023
Veteran journalist Scott James spent years researching and writing about the Station Fire — and he joined GoLocal LIVE to discuss what he learned publishing his book, "Trial by Fire: A Devastating Tragedy, 100 Lives Lost, and a 15-Year Search for Truth.”
Monday is the 20th anniversary of the fire, which took 100 lives and injured 100 others.
James who grew up in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and today lives in San Francisco, said he was motivated to write the book because he felt the full story had never been told.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“When I would come home, people would say they thought they never really knew the truth or didn't know the full story about what happened that night 20 years ago. So after hearing this for a number of years. I decided I would just start asking some questions, and it didn't take me long to figure out that, in fact, people hadn't been told the whole story, and that key people had never spoken publicly several -- and in fact, had never told their stories, so there were gaps of information that I thought needed to be filled,” said James.
James cites the amazing story of survivor Gina Russo and how she is the embodiment of the spirit of the survivors, “a person who just becomes an incredible inspiration. It's one of those stories that just really sticks with you about something good that ultimately came out of something really, really awful.”
Failure to Disclose
“I found an order form...from the nightclub owners to the foam company that specifically says they ordered sound foam -- this is a revelation to me," said James. "And I remember going to the brothers afterward, the Derderian brothers who owned the nightclub and saying to them, who has seen this besides me, and their response was, 'well, we got it from the government,' and of course, that made sense because their own records all burned in the fire so the only people who had access to search warrants and subpoenas and things like that was the government, so this was a document that the government itself had and yet spun the story in a completely different way that that fit their narrative of what they wanted to do legally but was not really a hundred percent of the correct story,” said James.
Press Coverage Failure
James has harsh comments for the Providence Journal and its failure to follow up on critical information.
“This was a story that was covered over the course of years and years and years, and I think that what was disappointing to find out was that after [the Providence Journal] sued to gain access to all of these documents that really are bringing incredible insight to what happened that night. I'm not sure that anyone actually read them -- now at that point, it might have been exhaustion because it was like years after the cases were all settled, but I have to say, if you're going to sue and say I want access to this stuff and it comes out then you should look at it some things,” said James.
James also criticized the Providence Journal for publishing the Derderian’s home addresses, but the paper did not publish anyone else involved in the incident. The Derderians had refused to be interviewed.
“I couldn't believe it when I saw that the Providence Journal, at the height of the anguish over this tragedy, published the home addresses of the nightclub owners there was no reason to do that there was no journalistic reason to do that and they certainly didn't publish the home address of the leader of the rock band Jack Russell or the roadie who set off the fireworks that caused all this,” said James.
Since the publication of James’ book, the CBS news magazine 48 Hours broadcast a special, and that episode was nominated for an Emmy.
Related Articles
- Guest MINDSETTER™ Dave Kane: Station Fire Memorial Important For All Rhode Islanders
- Station Fire Victim’s Dad: “Draconian Laws Impossible to Afford”
- PODCAST: Station Fire Victim’s Dad Speaks Out on Fire Safety Regs
- Prom Fashion Show To Raise Funds for Station Fire Memorial
- 12 Years Later: Unanswered Questions Remain About Station Fire
- Could Another Station Fire Happen in Rhode Island?
- RI’s Coronavirus Death Rate Is Growing to 3 to 4 Station Fires a Month
- Former Projo Reporter and Brown Prof. Threatened Author With Legal Action on Book About Station Fire
- 41 Signs of Hope, Commemorating the 16th Anniversary of the Station Fire on LIVE
- NEW: ProJo Lists Station Fire’s Great White Under Best Local Band in Readers’ Poll
- CBS’ 48 Hours to Feature Station Fire—Derderians Discuss Upcoming Show
