TOUGH RHODE ISLAND FIRE CODE:

The panel that interprets Rhode Island’s fire code saw a flurry of requests for waivers and extensions as business owners, school superintendents, architects and town officials rushed to comply with the state’s updated fire code which went into effect on Feb. 20, the one-year anniversary of The Station nightclub blaze that killed 100 people, injured about 200 others and compelled the state to create tougher fire safety regulations. Each week, the Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review listened to business owners and others who were seeking waivers, extensions, or plain interpretations of the code. “People are trying very, very hard. They aren’t trying to cut corners on safety. We wouldn’t let them anyway,” said Tom Coffey, the board’s executive director. The new fire law includes a ban on pyrotechnics in nightclubs like The Station, where a pyrotechnics performance started the deadly blaze. The new code also gets rid of the so-called grandfathering statutes that allowed older buildings to ignore new safety standards, mandates fire alarms be municipally connected in all nightclubs with occupancies of at least 150, and requires smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in three-family apartment buildings.