Killer Show: The Station Nightclub Fire, America’s Deadliest Rock Concert

24 | "First, Survival; Then, Function; Then, Cosmetics"

c h a P t e r 2 4 the station Fire criminal Prosecutions were not completed until more than three years after the tragedy. Over that period of time, it might be understandable if some people lost full appreciation for the personal toll exacted by the defendants’ criminal negligence. But one group never would. They were the most seriously burned victims of the fire. For those fortunate enough to survive, no part of their “sentence” would be suspended; they would all be lifers. By mid-morning on February 21, 2003, the day after the fire, the emergency room at the Massachusetts General Hospital had settled into its normal routine, which is to say, normally frenetic. Helicopters no longer clattered onto the hospital’s roof, but doctors and nurses scurried about, attending to the fourteen Station fire victims who had passed through the ER’s doors over the prior eight hours. About half those patients remained unidentified. As hospital personnel fielded calls from people looking for missing loved ones, ER staff patiently took down information on each: name, age, height, weight, clothing, distinctive jewelry, tattoos, scars—even shoe size, because many victims were terribly burned about their faces and upper bodies. By midday, all but two female patients had been identified. They were the hospital ’s “Jane Does.” Anna and Joe Gruttadauria were awakened three hours after the fire by one of their daughter Pam’s co-workers at the Holiday Inn, calling to see if she was all right. They checked Pam’s room, only to find her bed empty. She had not come home. “fi rSt, surV i va l; T HEN , fUnctiOn; then , cosmeticS” k i l l e r s h o w 174 Pam’s parents turned on the TV, saw news reports about the fire, then drove to the Crowne Plaza Hotel where Red Cross volunteers were setting up a support center. At 6:30 in the morning, the distraught parents were told there was no “Pam Gruttadauria” on a list of known survivors. They began to call area hospitals, describing Pam as five feet tall, with dark hair. When they spoke with Massachusetts General Hospital, their hopes were dashed. The hospital’s two remaining Jane Does were both about five feet, four inches tall. By mid-Saturday, the second day after the fire, only one of Mass. General’s Jane Does remained nameless. When the Gruttadaurias called the hospital again that day, they were asked for a more detailed description of their daughter . This time, Anna described acne scars on Pam’s upper chest and a chipped front tooth. The “unknown woman in room 14” also had a chipped tooth. Sometimes when people are seriously burned, the massive swelling of their bodies makes height measurement difficult. Aided by Anna Gruttadauria ’s additional description, MGH staff remeasured their unidentified female patient. Taking into account her body’s swelling, the terribly burned woman was closer to five feet. Buoyed by this news, the Gruttadaurias sped to Boston, hopeful that their daughter might still be alive. Upon arrival at Massachusetts General Hospital, Anna and Joe Gruttadauria were introduced to Dr. Lawrence Park, the hospital’s emergency room psychiatrist. He explained to them that the girl in room 14 was very badly burned, and they would not be able to see her face or hands, which were swathed in bandages. But someone would have to try to identify her. Anna didn’t hesitate. Donning sterile gown, gloves, and a mask, she stepped into the room and looked at the patient’s terribly swollen feet. Her daughter had one toe that overlapped the one next to it. So did this patient. Pam had red acne scars on her upper chest. As did the poor girl in the bed. And the unconscious burn victim, suspended amid a network of tubes, wires, and monitors, had a single chipped tooth visible above the breathing tube that passed from the respirator into her lungs. “This is Pam,” said Anna. A mother knows. Several regional burn centers and general hospitals cared for victims of the Station fire. Rhode Island Hospital’s burn unit alone performed more than forty skin-graft surgeries in the two months following the fire. The University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Shriners Hospital in Boston also cared for critically burned Station fire vic- “ f i r s t , s u r v i v...