Station Fire Property Owner Donates Land for Memorial

According to the Associated Press, West Warwick property owner Ray Villanova has agreed to donate the site of The Station nightclub for use as a permanent memorial to the 100 people killed in the Feb. 2003 blaze.

Villanova's lawyer, Dan McKiernan, filed papers at West Warwick Town Hall on Friday morning transferring the land to the Station Fire Memorial Foundation.

The decision brings closure to the long-standing effort to secure the site of the tragedy by families of those killed.

Dave Kane of Johnston, father of Nicholas O'Neill, the youngest Station Fire victim, had previously written a letter to JohnstonPatch opposing the "satellite" memorial in Warwick and repeating the call for the State of Rhode Island to try to take the property by eminent domain.

The one condition of the transfer is that a suitable memorial be maintained at the site in perpetuity.

The fire was sparked on Feb. 20, 2003 by pyrotechnics for the rock band Great White.

Johnston residents who died in the Station Fire:

Mark A. Fontaine
Pamela Gruttadauria
John Longiaru
Andrea Mancini
Steven Mancini