Suit filed by residents displaced by Conshohocken inferno

As investigators declared last Wednesday's blaze in Conshohocken an accident and ruled out a criminal probe, a class-action lawsuit has charged the developer of the riverfront apartments with negligence in the catastrophic fire.

The suit filed by residents of the Riverwalk at the Millennium complex accuses developer O'Neill Properties, among other things, of failing to install sprinklers in the attics of units whose roofs ignited from a fire that developed in a nearby construction site.

"We think those sprinklers would have contained the fire so that the fire department might have been able to control it and save those buildings," attorney Robert Mongeluzzi said in an interview yesterday.

The fire, which left about 375 residents of the Riverwalk units homeless, was touched off by molten slag from acetylene torches used in the construction of the Millennium Stables, an apartment complex being built nearby.

Both the Millennium Stables and the Riverwalk at the Millennium were projects of the O'Neill Properties Group, owned by billionaire developer Brian O'Neill. His firm sold the Riverwalk units in 2006.

The suit, which charges carelessness and negligence, names as defendants O'Neill Properties and its builder, Merion Construction, as well as Cavan Construction, the subcontractor whose workers used the acetylene torches, and the Bozutto Corporation, a Maryland-based firm that manages the Riverwalk units.

None was available for comment on the suit yesterday.

The suit charges that those managing the construction site failed to take precautions needed when using torches to remove some steel frames among the largely wood-constructed apartment buildings.

"Using a 3,000-degree torch in a forest of wooden construction products is like playing with matches in a barn filled with hay," Mongeluzzi said.

Mongeluzzi said that before using the torches, the contractor should have prepared a fire-protection plan including the use of welding blankets - sheets of fireproof material - to contain sparks and molten slag, and ensured that there were adequate hydrants and water pressure to contain a blaze if one broke out.

A statement issued yesterday by Conshohocken Borough authorities and District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said that workmen had inspected the construction site an hour after the torches were used and found no evidence of fire.

The workmen then left the site, the statement said, and investigators concluded that molten slag from the torches lodged in wooden material eventually ignited it and started the fire.

The lawsuit also charges that the Riverwalk units did not have sufficient water pressure "as required by the applicable standards for the installation of sprinkler systems."

O'Neill and Conshohocken Borough officials have insisted that the Riverwalk and Millennium Stables projects met all building and fire codes.

Apart from the lawsuit filed by five named residents of the Riverwalk development, a group of tenants announced the formation of an association to "organize and advocate on behalf of the interests of residents displaced by the Aug. 13 fire."

A statement by the Riverwalk Tenants Network said it would establish an online forum to share information and would hold an organizational meeting Thursday night. *