What to Know
- The Aug. 18 fire sent smoke pouring out of the row house on Kennedy Street NW. A man died of his injuries
- Nine-year-old Yafet Solomon was rushed to a hospital with injuries and later died
Revelations that a D.C. police officer alerted officials at the fire department and the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs of dangerous conditions five months before a fatal fire in Northwest is drawing outrage from council members.
In March, D.C. police were first to become aware of the conditions at 708 Kennedy St. NW, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Kevin Donahue said. A police officer was called to the house for a noise complaint March 21 and saw the unsafe conditions inside.
According to a police report dated March 22, the house had no lit exit signs and no working smoke detectors, and the one fire extinguisher was not tagged. There were also too many makeshift doors with locks that would make it hard to exit in an emergency, the report said.
The report said that the building used to be a pharmacy, but the basement had been changed into a rooming house, and office space looked like it was being used as a seamstress shop.
"Strongly recommend both DCRA and DCFD Code Inspectors respond to the listed location," the police report said.
The officer sent five emails over two months to D.C. Fire & EMS and DCRA before an inspector from DCRA went to the house. The inspector visited three times but could not get inside because nobody was home and closed the case.
"It’s not good enough that an inspector comes out, knocks on the door and goes home," Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said.
“It’s unacceptable when you have that amount of communication that went into this process and the ball still got dropped,” Councilman Brandon Todd said.
Government officials said DCRA could have gotten a court order to force entry into the house but did not.
“The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs is doing a lousy job with regard to housing inspections, and we’ve seen that there are actually human lives at risk or lost,” Mendelson said.
The house caught fire the morning of Aug. 18 and proved fatal for a 9-year-old boy and a man.
Iron security bars on the windows prevented residents from escaping faster. Authorities have yet to determine an official cause of the fire but said the row house's narrow halls, broken smoke detectors and barred exits were a deadly combination. Even the building's front door was blocked by metal bars, which were ripped off as tenants screamed for help.
Investigators found that the house — where more than a dozen Ethiopian immigrants lived — had multiple code violations, including bars on doors, not enough exits, no working smoke detectors, no sprinkler system and inadequate lighting.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered D.C. police, the D.C. fire department and DCRA to conduct internal reviews to identify gaps. Four employees of the fire department and DCRA have been been placed on administrative leave.
A third-party review of what happened will be conducted as well.
“People have to be held accountable, period point blank," said Todd, who attended Wednesday's funeral for Yafet Solomon, the 9-year-old victim.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
The reviews could take two months. Mendelson will hold a public hearing when the investigations are complete.
Mendelson also is pushing legislation to break DCRA into two smaller agencies. Many believe the agency is overworked and understaffed, and Mendelson said this incident reinforces that.
