Fall River fire probe focuses on doors

FALL RIVER -- As the city's tight-knit Portuguese community gathered to mourn, a widening investigation into the social club blaze Wednesday that killed four women focused yesterday on whether the lack of outward-opening doors at the meeting hall violated state laws and prevented those inside from fleeing the fire, authorities said.

The meeting hall had never sought a public-assembly permit nor been inspected by city fire and building officials, who would have ordered the installation of either outward-opening or push-bar safety doors. Several of the roughly 30 survivors of the fire said the hall's doors would not open as they tried to flee, forcing them to smash windows to escape .

``If a space is an assembly-use space then there is a requirement for out-swinging doors," said Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for state public safety commissioner Thomas G. Gatzunis. ``If there were no out-swinging doors then it was a violation of the building code which could result in a criminal charge."

The potential charge -- based on laws passed in the wake of the 2003 Rhode Island Station nightclub fire -- is punishable by up to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Yesterday evening, hundreds somberly gathered at a Fall River church, saying quiet prayers at a memorial service for the four who perished in the fire. The name of the fourth victim, Geraldine Andrade, 63, emerged yesterday. Her family remembered her as a doting grandmother with a golden touch in the kitchen.

``She lived for her children and grandchildren; they were her whole life," said her daughter Lyn Silvia, 38.

But amid the tears, there was one happy development: 1-year-old Autumn Silvia, the fire's youngest victim, was released late Thursday from Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence with slight burns on her face and hands. The litle girl was whisked out of the hall by her aunt .

Both the Fall River Fire Department and the state fire marshal's office yesterday sifted through the meeting hall's charred remains seeking answers. City fire officials talked with the meeting hall's owners and victims' family members at a three-hour meeting yesterday.

Bristol District Attorney Paul F. Walsh, Jr. will ultimately decide whether to press criminal charges.

``We will await the investigative reports from both the Fall River Fire Department and the state fire marshal's office. We will then review those reports to see what action may need to be taken, if any," he said yesterday in a statement.

State senator Jarrett T. Barrios, a Cambridge Democrat who helped draft the laws passed after the Station fire, urged Walsh to press charges.

``What the DA does in this case will send a strong message to other social clubs," Barrios said.

State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan indicated that his office would ``review the history of the building and determine whether there were or are any violations of the fire code." The results would then be forwarded to the district attorney for possible prosecution.

The meeting hall was owned by a nonprofit group called Recreation Association Nossa Senhora Ca Luz, Inc. The group's acting president, Manuel Costa, said they had done nothing wrong. Fall River's building inspector has blamed the group for not contacting him when the nonprofit began hosting Portuguese social clubs at the meeting hall, which was on the first floor of a three-story residential building.

``I don't know about any inspection that should have been done," said Costa.

On state records, the building was improperly listed as a private residence, and thus was not subject to inspection, fire officials have said.

Public-use buildings require, at a minimum, outward-opening doors. Larger-capacity facilities require push-bar doors, which open with pressure against a horizontal bar across the door. It is unclear what the meeting hall's capacity was and which kind of doors would have been required. The meeting hall had three doors, all of which opened inward, Fall River fire officials said .

``Clearly there was a problem for people to exit through the doorway" during the fire, said William Silvia, Fall River's deputy chief fire marshal.

The fire, which has been ruled accidental, was thought to have been caused when crepe paper decorations hung in the meeting hall were ignited.

``Either the candle was knocked over or the object used to light the candle was dropped," Silvia said.

People were gathered at the meeting hall to mark the Feast of the Holy Ghost this weekend. A procession planned today has been canceled .

At Espirito Santo Catholic Church in Fall River last night, close to a thousand people gathered to memorialize the dead.

In addition to Andrade, the victims were Emiliana Carvalho, 80, Mary Raposa, 70, and Christina Costa, 31, fire officials said.

A procession of black-clad children marched down the church's center aisle, followed by clergy members . The crowd sang religious hymns in Portuguese.

``The fact is in this life, things that seemingly shouldn't happen, do happen," the Rev. James Ferry, the church's pastor, told the gathering.

With the identification of Andrade yesterday, details of her life emerged: She was mother to three and grandmother to five, a retired clerical worker who relished trips to Las Vegas and Carribean cruises. Andrade had celebrated her 43d wedding anniversary two weeks ago with her husband Joe Andrade, 61.

On Wednesdays, she usually attended her grandsons' T-ball practices. But this week she went to the Feast of the Holy Ghost celebration, a key Portuguese holiday, at the County Street meeting hall.

She went to the meeting hall to pray for her cancer-stricken 11-year-old godson. Family members said that when the fire broke out, Andrade followed her goddaughter Cheryl Carvalho, 30, into the kitchen to get water . Carvalho said, ``I saw daylight and ran."

In addition to the four deaths, 10 were injured in the fire, including Autumn Silvia. Doctors said she would make a full recovery.

She was carried out of the blaze by her aunt, Michelle Pacheco. Her mother, Stephanie Silvia rushed to St. Anne's Hospital in Fall River, where her daughter, mother, and sister were all hospitalized after the fire. All three have since been released.

``She was crying at the hospital [in Providence]. She didn't know what was going on," Silvia said. ``We'd cry, and then she'd cry more."

But by yesterday, Autumn's mother said the child was back to normal eating Goldfish crackers: ``I'm just happy she's OK, at least she's alive."

Michael Levenson of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Yuxing Zheng contributed to this report.