Fairmount fire victims’ relatives sue PHA over nonworking smoke detectors and overcrowding

Family members of eight people killed in a devastating fire in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood in January 2022 have sued the Philadelphia Housing Authority, alleging that the agency violated the victims’ constitutional rights by allowing overcrowding in the unit and neglecting for years to fix inoperable smoke detectors.

The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Friday — two years to the day since the fire killed 12 people, including three sisters and their nine children — and alleges that the PHA knew of the overcrowding and nonfunctional smoke detectors that permitted the early-morning blaze to spread through the four-bedroom unit on North 23rd Street without warning.

The complaint marks the second lawsuit filed by the Kline & Specter firm against the housing authority on behalf of the family’s estate. Last year, the firm sued PHA and a California-based lighter company for negligence in Philadelphia municipal court.

“Over the past year through the process of investigation and discovery we have uncovered facts giving rise to not only negligence claims, but also civil rights violations which we now will pursue in this additional lawsuit in federal court to obtain full justice for the tragic losses of life in this avoidable tragedy,” said Tom Kline, an attorney representing the plaintiffs.

The fire, one of the city’s deadliest in decades, began after a 5-year-old boy playing with a lighter accidentally ignited a Christmas tree on the home’s second floor, officials said. Flames and smoke quickly rose to the third floor. Firefighters declared the blaze under control about an hour later, but it already claimed the lives of the 12 people: Rosalee McDonald, 33; Quintien Tate-McDonald, 16; Destiny McDonald, 15; Dekwan Robinson, 8; J’Kwan Robinson, 5; Taniesha Robinson, 3; Tiffany Robinson, 2; Virginia Thomas, 30; Shaniece Wayne, 10; Natasha Wayne, 8; Janiyah Roberts, 3; and Quinsha White, 18. The 5-year-old boy and a father to four of the children survived, as did five occupants in the duplex’s lower unit.

» READ MORE: Remembering those lost in the Fairmount fire

A PHA spokesperson said that the housing authority hadn’t received notice of the new filing, but that “PHA intends to vigorously litigate this matter in a court of law and not in the press.”

The lawsuit alleges that PHA was aware that more than eight people were living in the 1,600-square-foot unit, surpassing federal occupancy standards, but did not move the 14-member family to a larger home, despite their “repeated requests.”

Following the fire in 2022, PHA president and CEO Kelvin Jeremiah said the housing authority doesn’t “kick out family members ... who might not have other suitable housing options.” He also said the “unimaginable loss of life has shaken all of us at PHA.”

Vanessa McDonald — whose three daughters and nine grandchildren were killed — moved into the unit in 2011 with five of her children and grandchildren, and over the years, their family grew and continued to live in the apartment. For the decade the growing family lived in the PHA-operated home, the unit consistently received failing scores from federally required inspections, the lawsuit said, and the residents “were repeatedly subjected to rodent and bug infestations, severe overcrowding, lack of operable smoke detectors, and overall deplorable and unsafe living conditions.”

» READ MORE: PHA knew for years about overcrowding in home of Fairmount fire victims but didn’t move them

The lawsuit also alleges that inoperable smoke detectors was a persistent issue in the unit for years. In the weeks leading up to the fatal fire, the lawsuit says, PHA representatives visited the property at least three times, falsely reporting that the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors were functioning.

On Dec. 30, 2021, six days before the fire, two PHA maintenance workers attempted to repair the detectors but couldn’t, eventually removing them from the ceilings and walls, the lawsuit alleges. They then falsely marked on a quality-check form that the detectors were working, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also names the city’s Department of Human Services, alleging that a social worker from the agency was aware that the home’s smoke detectors were not working. According to the lawsuit, two weeks before the fatal fire, the social worker told the family she would return with working smoke detectors, but did not.

DHS did not immediately return a request for comment.

The tragedy drew national attention to the public housing shortage, and in the months following the fire, the U.S. House passed a bill requiring hardwired or tamper-resistant smoke alarms in public housing. Last year, the city unveiled a memorial to the 12 family members killed in the blaze, paying tribute to their memory through photos, toys, stuffed animals and poems.