Families of fallen firefighters in Stricker Street fire refile lawsuit against Baltimore City
BALTIMORE -- The families of three fallen firefighters killed in a 2022 vacant rowhome fire have refiled a lawsuit against Baltimore City.
The refile comes on the third anniversary of the deaths of Lt. Paul Butrim, firefighter/paramedic Kelsey Sadler, and EMT/firefighter Kenny Lacayo were killed when they became trapped in a vacant rowhome on South Stricker Street, who died on Jan. 24, 2022.
The cause of the fire was determined to be criminal activity, according to an investigation by The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
But the lawsuit, alleges that the city maintained a practice of sending unsuspecting firefighters into structurally unsafe buildings, ultimately leading to the tragedy on Stricker Street.
"Didn't tell the rank and file. So, now they're going into a death trap," said Kevin Stern, one of the attorneys representing the families of the victims.
The lawsuit points to a program, Code X-Ray, established in 2010 to ensure that firefighters would not be ordered into unsafe properties. Buildings deemed unsafe were to be marked with reflective placards or a painted red "X," warning firefighters not to enter. Unsafe buildings were also to be cataloged in the firefighter CAD system.
"We have no intention of letting this go," Ken Berman, another attorney, said.
New discoveries
According to the attorneys, the re-filing comes with new information.
"As we continue to peel back the layers of the onion, what we learn is that nobody wanted to say 'Hey, we're not going to do this program anymore even though it wasn't happening," Stern said. "We're not going to tell anyone.'"
The families allege that the city failed to notify the firefighters that Code X-Ray had been partially discontinued, nor that the vacant rowhome on South Stricker Street had collapsed multiple times prior to the deadly fire on Jan. 24.
"The idea of not telling anybody and suppressing that information is what is shocking," Berman said.
"If the City advised that the Code X-Ray program had been discontinued at any point before January 24, 2022, I and my fellow firefighters would not have entered 205 S. Stricker Street on the day of the incident," John McMaster, the only surviving firefighter, said in an affidavit filed on Tuesday.
The lawsuit also states that the city failed to notify the firefighters that it did not input data about structurally unsafe buildings into the CAD system.
In December, a judge dismissed the initial suit ruling it failed to show the city intended to harm the firefighters. These lawyers say this new lawsuit will do just that. Should this case move forward, Stern believes more information could be revealed.
"I think that there will be some even more support, even more emails, even more correspondence that support the fact that, hey, this was concealed," Stern said. "This was covered up. This was intentionally withheld."
In response to the lawsuit, Baltimore City's Law Department said, "As this is ongoing litigation, we will reserve comment for the appropriate judicial forum."
It's important to note months after the fire, city officials launched an initiative marking unsafe vacant homes and buildings across Baltimore.
