New lawsuit targets 2 agencies' failures that contributed to deadly 2022 Fairmount fire
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Two years after the deadly Fairmount fire, a new lawsuit accuses two agencies of failures that contributed to the deaths of 12 people.
The lawsuit alleges shocking failures concerning smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and how workers falsely documented they were working when they weren't, according to lawyers.
Friday marks exactly two years since the fire that killed a dozen people inside of a Fairmount rowhome.
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A new federal lawsuit alleges grave missteps by the Philadelphia Housing Authority and Human Services department workers including a document that shows days before the disaster, workers allegedly checked boxes that smoke and carbon monoxide detectors were all working.
However, investigators said they weren't working.
"We had a property which was built to be a fire trap, which was then overcrowded and which had no smoke detector protection," Tom Kline of Kline and Specter said. "My word, the people in this property, who lost their lives, never had a chance."
Kline filed the civil rights lawsuit Friday morning and said the suit seeks to make whole surviving family members of the victims.
READ MORE: Philadelphia City Council Introduces 'Life-Saving Ordinance' Following Fairmount Fire That Killed 12
Investigators have said the fire started after a child was playing with a lighter in close proximity to a Christmas tree.
The lawsuit alleges DHS and PHA workers made a number of visits to the property weeks before the deadly fire and discovered the smoke detectors weren't working, but did nothing.
"We believe the misconduct here is pretty bad and we believe there needs to be an accounting for it," Kline said.
CBS News Philadelphia left calls and messages for PHA, but have not heard back yet. A spokesperson for the City of Philadelphia also declined to comment.
