Inspectors Return To Dallas Apartments Where Residents Jumped From Burning Building
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Two weeks after residents at the Far East Dallas apartment complex were forced to jump from windows to escape a fire, fire inspectors returned to the apartment complex to check the remaining buildings for unresolved fire code violations.
Last week, a state district judge gave the owners of the Meadows at Ferguson apartments one week to fix all of its violations.
A Dallas fire inspector testified last week that the day of the fire he found missing smoke detectors, painted over fire sprinklers, and windows that were screwed shut at the buildings unaffected by the fire.
City attorneys told Judge Tonya Parker they were concerned that another fire could happen any day now.
The cause of the fire on November 21 will likely never be known.
For safety reasons the building was demolished before firefighters could inside and investigate.
In court documents, the city alleges "to its knowledge the fire sprinklers system in the building did not activate in response to the fire."
The attorney for the apartment's owners told the CBS 11 I-Team, that building was recently inspected over the summer and, he said, it had working fire sprinklers and smoke detectors.
The City of Dallas also filed an emergency motion to appoint a receiver for the apartment complex until its lawsuit against the ownership of the complex is resolved.
In September 2017, the city sued the owner, Eyal Dallas Holdings LLC, citing 64 different code violations including 11 fire code violations.
The case is schedule to go to trial in March 2019.
