Monday, February 20, 2006

Three years on

It was three years ago today that the deadliest fire in the history of Rhode Island took the lives of 100 people in West Warwick. The Providence Journal (registration required) takes a look at the aftermath of the fire three years on.

I remember the fire mayhem that followed very clearly. In such a small state, you didn't have to look very far for somebody who knew, or was related to, someone killed or injured in the disaster. This CNN article, written by a former Ocean Stater overstates the degree to which people in Rhode Island know each other, but perhaps not by much.

The fire also put the state at the top of national news, which extremely unfamiliar territory for Rhode Island, which (when noticed at all) is usually lumped in with "Boston" as big media outlets lazily do with anything in eastern New England. Rhode Island doesn't make the news very often, but the next time it does, would it be too much to hope for that it makes the headlines for some good news?

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