1978 — Nov 5, Arson Fire, Allen Motor Inn, Honesdale, Wayne County, PA — 12

–20 National Fire Sprinkler Association. F.Y.I. Fire Sprinkler Facts. 1999, 7.
–12 Best. “Suspected Arson Kills Twelve in 120-Year-Old Pennsylvania Inn.” Fire Journal, 24.
–12 Compton, T. “Remembering the Hotel Allen inferno.” WayneIndependent. 12-20-2010.
–12 Jones. “1978 Multiple-Death Fires…” Fire Journal, July 1979, p. 38.
–11 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p

Narrative Information

Best: “Twelve hotel guests died November 5, 1978, when a fire attributed to arson raced through the 120-year-old Allen Motor Inn in which a large-loss-of-life fire could have been predicted. The three-story hotel, labeled a ‘fire-trap’ by a county official, had open wooden stairs, no fire protection features except for portable fire extinguishers, and no fire alarm system. Despite recent attempts by officials to enforce safety codes, the hotel owner had been granted three separate time extensions to make repairs, and the hotel had continued in use with major fire-safety violations until the November 5 fire took the lives of more than half of its occupants….

“The original 85-foot-square building, built in 1858, was believed to be the oldest concrete hotel in Pennsylvania….

“The hotel was occupied by about 20 elderly or transient guests on the date of the fire. One guest was a cerebral palsy victim. Another retired guest was handicapped and needed a walker to move around….

“Two previous firs had occurred…in 1978. A midsummer fire in the basement…was believed to have been accidental. Another fire on October 5, 1978, one month to the day prior to the November fire, was determined to have been incendiary in origin. The October fire had involved a pile of newspapers under the front stairway. On that occasion, the hotel guests had been successfully evacuated, and the fire had been extinguished without injuries to the occupants….

“The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry had inspected the Allen Motor Inn in 1977 and had ordered that 16 violations of the Department of Labor and Industry regulations be corrected. The conditions cited included the lack of a fire alarm system, fire extinguishers, and emergency lighting in the building. An open stairway between the second and third floors of the hotel was included….the hotel was continuing to operate with major life safety violations at the time of the fire….” (Best, Richard, “Suspected Arson Kills Twelve in 120-Year-Old Pennsylvania Inn.” Fire Journal, NFPA, March 1979, pp. 24-27 & 96.)

Compton: “Honesdale, Pa…. It’s been 32 years since the Hotel Allen fire claimed so many innocent lives…. ‘There was a person in the second floor window,’ Texas #4 firefighter Paul Lautenschlager remembered. ‘We got the hand ladder off of the truck and by the time we got it over to the window and put the ladder up, the person was gone. And the fire was just burning that fast, whether the floor caved in and we lost them, we don’t know. We never saw or found the person after that.’ The Nov. 5, 1978 arson fire was one of the worst Wayne County had ever seen.

“Built in 1857, the three-story Hotel Allen, located at the corner of Church and 9th Streets in Honesdale, was credited with being the first concrete building in the state. But that’s not why it’s remembered. Twelve of the hotel’s occupants died the morning of the fire.

“The fact that it was arson was evident, said then-Wayne County Coroner Bob Jennings. ‘Huge balls of flame exploded in different areas. I knew there had to be some type of accelerant used for this type of a fire,’ he said. ‘Fire doesn’t spread that fast. And it doesn’t create a mushroom, high volume of flames, not unless there’s some type of accelerant used. I continued to photograph the scene — record it.’ Having received intensive training at the Medical Examiner’s office in both New York City and Philadelphia, Jennings knew what to look for. His recollection of that day is vivid. ‘It’s something that I’ll never forget. But there was an advantage to this particular fire, because there had been a fire there previously, a few weeks prior,’ he said. ‘It was thought to be a suspicious fire, set at that time.’

“A police probe found Frederick Blady — described in published reports as a ‘36-year-old drifter from New Jersey’ — arrested on both fires. A jury trial ended with Blady being charged with second degree arson in the Oct. 5 blaze, which caused more than $5,000 worth of damage to the hotel. However, a separate trial in the fatal fire found the jury returning a much different verdict: Not guilty.

“Not a year goes by that Atty. Steve Bresset, then a Wayne County Assistant District Attorney who helped prosecute the case, doesn’t think about the tragedy. ‘It was a tragic event across the board. The person who I felt was responsible for it was not convicted. Frederick Weiler Blady….’You ask any trial attorney and they can tell you every detail of every case they lost and not the details of the cases they won,’ Bresset said.

What stood out the most was the difference 15 minutes can make. ‘[Blady] had confessed to having started the (fatal) fire during the investigation. And then his council filed a motion to suppress on the basis of what was then called the Futch-Davenport rule which requires a person be arraigned within six hours of their arrest. He was arraigned, according to the court’s conclusion, six hours and 15 minutes after he was arrested,’ Bresset said. Though they appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, suppression of the confession was upheld. Based on that 15 minutes, Blady’s confession was thrown out. Still facing life in prison on murder and arson-related charges involving the death of the 12 fire victims, a jury trial found Blady not guilty on all 119 counts. It’s a verdict that still haunts Bresset. ‘It was an extremely empty feeling that stays with me ‘til today,’ he said.

“The morning of the fatal fire, Jennings reached out to the New York City Fire Marshal’s Office for assistance. ‘They arrived later that Sunday afternoon. In the meantime, I ordered that nothing be removed from the hotel… ‘Don’t touch any of the bodies.’ They wanted the scene as it was,’ he said….

“It would be days before all of the victims were accounted for. ‘I took off work for the next three days and had the aerial ladder down there every day. We were in the third floor, looking for bodies. The roof caved in, and then the ceiling caved in and you had to dig down through that char to get down to the floor,’ said Glen Gunuskey, then newly appointed foreman of Texas #4….” (Compton, Tammy. “Remembering the Hotel Allen inferno.” WayneIndependent. 12-20-2010.)

Jones/NFPA: “Hotel, Honesdale, Pennsylvania…On November 5, 1978, 12 guests died in a fire in this 120-year-old hotel. The origin of the fire has been ruled incendiary. Major fire safety violations had been noted prior to the fire by local officials, but the owner had been granted extensions to complete the necessary work and the hotel continued to be used. The fire took the lives of more than half of the building’s occupants.” (Jones, Jon C. “1978 Multiple-Death Fires: Smoking Materials Lead Ignition Sources.” Fire Journal, July 1979, p. 38.)

Sources

Best, Richard, “Suspected Arson Kills Twelve in 120-Year-Old Pennsylvania Inn.” Fire Journal, NFPA, March 1979, pp. 24-27 & 96.

Compton, Tammy. “Remembering the Hotel Allen inferno.” WayneIndependent. 12-20-2010. Accessed 3-4-2013: http://www.wayneindependent.com/article/20101220/NEWS/312209994?refresh=true

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Jones, Jon C. “1978 Multiple-Death Fires: Smoking Materials Lead Ignition Sources.” Fire Journal, July 1979, pp. 33-40.

National Fire Sprinkler Association, Inc. F.Y.I. – Fire Sprinkler Facts. Patterson, NY: NFSA, November 1999, 8 pages. Accessed at: http://www.firemarshals.org/data/File/docs/College%20Dorm/Administrators/F1%20-%20FIRE%20SPRINKLER%20FACTS.pdf