DC council holds hearing on response to conditions at house prior to fire that killed 9-year-old boy, man
WASHINGTON - Members of the D.C. Council are holding a joint public oversight hearing on the response to reported code violations at a house in the District where a fire claimed the life of a man and a young boy over the summer.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmember Charles Allen will hold the hearing Monday afternoon.
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9-year-old Yafety Solomon and 40-year-old Fitsum Kebede were killed in the August 18 fire at 708 Kennedy Street in the Northwest.
Several months before the fire, a D.C. police officer responded to a noise complaint call at the house and identified numerous unsafe conditions, according to a report conducted by Alvarez and Marsal, a consulting firm hired by D.C. to conduct an independent investigation of the fire.
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According to Alvarez and Marsal, nine critical missteps by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services contributed to the lack of action to correct the reported violations.
According to Mendelson's office, it was determined after the fire that the property was an illegal boarding house and had numerous code violations that made it difficult for tenants to escape the building as it burned.
Written statements and witness statements are expected to be heard at the hearing.