1979 — April 11, Fire, Halfway House (Mental Impairment), Lamont Street, DC — 10
–11 US Congress, House. Boarding Home Fires: New Jersey Hearing, March 9, 1981, p. 14.[1]
–10 FMANA. “Life Safety in Boarding Homes…” Fire Marshals Bulletin, Sep/Oct, 1985, p.4.
–10 NFPA/Bell. Halfway House Fire, Washington, D.C., 10 Killed, April 11, 1979.
–10 Wash. Post (Tyler). “Fraud, Drug Sale Charges at Halfway Houses Probed.” 7-10-1979.
— 9 U.S. Congress. Boarding Home Fires: The Tip of the Iceberg. 4-25-1979 Hearing, p. 12.[2]
— 9 Washington Post. “Lamont Street Home — Moneymaker for Its Owners.” 4-22-1979.
Narrative Information
Fire Marshals Bulletin: “A typical example of a boarding home fire which the NFPA has investigated occurred in the early morning hours of April 11, 1979. The fire occurred in a community residence facility on Lamont Street in the northwest section of Washington , D.C. The fire, caused by the misuse of smoking materials which ignited a couch in the first floor lounge area, took the lives of 10 occupants and injured 5 others. This tragedy and others have focused national attention on the fire problems unique to boarding homes.” (Fire Marshals Association of North America. “Life Safety in Boarding Homes…” (Fire Marshals Bulletin, Sep/Oct, 1985, p. 4.)
National Fire Protection Association: “An early morning fire in a community residence facility in the Northwest section of Washington, D.C. took the lives of ten psychiatric facility outpatients. The building was used as a “halfway” house to accommodate female outpatients from a federally owned psychiatric facility. The fire occurred shortly before 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 11, 1979, trapping the 22 residents on the east side of the three-story brick ordinary-construction duplex in their rooms. Six residents on the second floor and three residents on the third floor died as a result of the fire and smoke that filled the west half of the 75 year old structure. One other resident died as a result of jumping from the second floor. Another was severely injured as she also attempted to jump to safety.
“The fire was caused by the misuse of smoking materials which ignited a couch in the first floor lounge area and quickly extended up the open stairway to the second and third floors. As no other means of egress was available, 16 residents were unable to evacuate to safety.
“The factors which contributed to the fatalities included the following:
- lack of stairway enclosure
- lack of a second means of egress to allow escape
- sleeping room doors not properly protected
- delay in alarm and evacuation of residents, and
- the combustibility of the furnishings and interior finish produced a rapid fire buildup, limiting warning and evacuation.” [NFPA 1979, 1-2]
“The home was operated by the Volunteers of America, a community oriented, non-profit service group which operates group homes, halfway houses, housing projects and nursing homes throughout the country. The building had operated as a rooming house for approximately 12 years prior to the purchase of the building by private owners in February 1978 and the lease of the building to the Volunteers of America. The home housed female outpatients from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.” [NFPA 1979, p. 3.]
“Although it was later determined by investigations conducted by the Mayor’s -office that the building did not meet District of Columbia Building Code requirements, the certificate of occupancy was issued. At the time of the fire, the home also was without a business license, the previous year’s business license having lapsed.” (NFPA 1979, p. 5.]
“Shortly before 1:00 a.m. on April 11, 1979, one of the residents attempted to light a cigarette while sitting on a couch in the “smoking room,” located on the first floor of the facility. This room was actually part of the entrance foyer converted to use as a smoking lounge with the addition of couch, chairs, and other furnishings. As the woman, described as a heavy smoker, sat on the couch, part of the couch ignited. The resident attempted to douse the couch with several glasses of water carried from a nearby bathroom. After these efforts did not succeed, the resident called for help. The resident manager, hearing the call, entered the foyer to find the center section of the couch on fire. The manager called for the maintenance man who lived in the basement in the east side of the home. The manager also placed a call to the fire department reporting, a “couch on fire.” By the time she returned to the smoking lounge, the fire had engulfed the synthetic foam couch and had spread to the wood panel door and wall behind the sofa. A 2-1/2 gallon pressurized water extinguisher was used on the fire without effect. The fire spread across the ceiling to the open stairway.
“The resident manager ran through both sections of the home, alerting and rousing residents on the first floor of the east section and all floors of the west section. The manual alarm system was pulled and did sound shortly after the fire department received the first call. The fire alarm was heard by a witness on the street just minutes prior to the arrival of the fire department.
“The fire spread to the additional lounge furnishings and combustible interior stairway materials and short hallways. The fire quickly spread to the landings on the second and third floors. With the hallways filled with fire and smoke, residents on the upper floors on the west half duplex were trapped in their rooms.
“The door between the two halves of the house at the first floor level was left in an open position. The doorway is located directly adjoining the “smoking room” and in close proximity to the open stairways of both sections. Smoke apparently passed through the doorway into the west side of the duplex. Some smoke did accumulate on the third floor on the west side of the duplex.” [NFPA 1979, pp. 5-7]
“One fatality was located on the sidewalk in the areaway between buildings after jumping from a second floor window in attempt to escape. A second resident was also found at this location severely injured from a jump.
“Five fatalities were found on the second floor. Three fatalities were found in a rear second floor bedroom. Fire fighters were ordered not to move what was thought to be four bodies pending arrival of the detectives from the homicide bureau of the Police Department. However, one fire fighter, making a check of the room approximately one-half hour after the alarm, heard one of the victims breathing. Though severely burned, this resident survived the fire but later succumbed to her extensive burn injuries at a hospital several days later. A fourth fatality was located in an adjoining bedroom. Another was found on the second floor stairway landing. Three fatalities were located in two rear bedrooms on the third floor.” [NFPA 1979, p. 9.] (NFPA. Halfway House Fire, Washington, D.C., 10 Killed, April 11, 1979.)
US Congress (Tip of Iceberg): “On April 11, 1979, nine elderly women were killed, three seriously injured and six hurt out of 47 people in a fire at the Taylor House, Washington, D.C. Located at 1715 Lamont Street, N.W., the Taylor House is a foster home run by Volunteers of America for patients of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.
“The fire started sometime before 1:00 am in a first floor day room and was caused by matches dropped by a patient onto a couch in the authorized “smoking area.” The fire spread from the couch six to eight feet to the stairwell leading to the second floor. Five bodies were found on the second floor. Three were in the seine room. One was found in the hallway and another on the steps. Three more bodies were found in the third floor attic and officials said they appeared to have died of smoke inhalation. The ninth person killed in the incident jumped to her death.
“The D.C. Fire Inspector’s office said it had received a call at 12:59 am for a “couch on fire.” The fire department’s response time was excellent. They arrived on the scene at approximately 1:01 am, however, smoke was already curling through the windows and coming out of the roof. Fire inspectors reported a host of deficiencies: the building had no exterior fire escapes, fire doors, enclosed stairwells, no sprinkler system and no smoke or heat detectors.
“The D.C. Fire Department inspected the home on July 11, 1978 but apparently overlooked the missing fire escape and fire doors. The inspector who did the survey has been placed on administrative leave by the city.
“Ralph E. Spencer, the city’s chief building inspector said, “The evidence indicates that the certificate of occupancy was issued in violation of certain requirements of the building code. The certificate of occupancy should not have been issued.”
“A draft report by the District auditor’s office indicates that more than half of the social service homes operating under contract with the District are operating illegally without proper health and safety enforcement.
“St. Elizabeth’s admits it has farmed out about 3,400 mental patients into 235 private homes and about 18 larger, licensed institutions. However, hundreds of smaller unlicensed facilities are also in use.
“Robert Moore, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development stated that, “There are in excess of 400—maybe 600” rooming houses in the District. “There is no way to keep track” of exactly how many there are.
“D.C. fire officials openly express their fear that similar fires could occur any day in the District of Columbia because of the lack of controls. So many people have been placed into the Ontario Road section of D.C. (where the 1715 Lamont Street fire took place) that the area is now referred to as a “psychiatric ghetto.”
“Since the fire, Albert T. Russo, Director of the Department of Human Resources, has put forth a major effort to identify and inspect all the boarding homes in the D.C. area….” (U.S. Congress. Boarding Home Fires: The Tip of the Iceberg. 4-25-1979 Hearing, p. 12.)
Newspapers
April 22, Washington Post: “The group home on Lamont Street NW where nine residents died in a fire earlier this month had been run as a profit-making operation in which the owners were making money at the rate of $15,000 a year on a $10,500 investment. This annual return on investment of 150 percent was possible because the owners were able to borrow $199,500, or virtually all of the $210,000 purchase price, according to city land records. In addition the owners could realize another $20,000 in tax benefits from mortgage interest deductions as well as the anticipated appreciation of the house at 1715-17 Lamont St. NW in the Mount Pleasant area near the National Zoo.
“The profit was high because of $4,000 in monthly rent paid by the Volunteers of America (VOA), the nonprofit group that ran the home. Tax assessors and real estate experts say that this was an abnormally high rent for the size, condition and location of the Lamont Street house. One of the two lawyer landlords, John G. Carleton, sits on the advisory board of the VOA. Together, Carleton and his partner Mark E. Brodsky have bought more than 60 city properties in the last five years. Among them are:
“Two other buildings in the Mount Pleasant area that are rented to VOA as halfway houses for federal prisoners. One of the houses, at 3932-34 14th St. NW, earns $6,000 in annual profits, according to the lawyers.
“Three other homes leased to Daniel J. Nellum, who operates them as emergency care facilities for disturbed children under contract with the city government. In each case, the lawyers obtained 90 to 100 percent financing from city lending institutions. Their down payments for all three homes totaled $10,795.
“Under commercial leases they sign with the group home operators, the lawyers have no legal liability for accidents in the homes.
“To maximize the income on the Lamont Street home, the VOA obtained an occupancy permit from the city for 51 residents. Under a District of Columbia law that went into effect last August, foster care homes that house from 1 to 50 patients could collect $236.60 per resident a month. But with a permit for 51 residents, VOA could collect $271.60 per resident a month. VOA collected the higher payment under the permit although only 47 residents lived there. The higher payment category meant that VOA received $1,410 more a month, or nearly $17,000 more a year.
“In an interview Friday concerning the Lamont Street fire, Brodsky said, “I feel on a personal level that a tragedy has taken place . . . in a piece of property that I happen to own. How does the mayor feel when someone gets run over on 16th Street?”….
“For the price equal to one month’s rental profit on the Lamont Street home, a fire escape stairway to the building’s second story could have been erected, according to a spokesman for a Washington ironworks firm. The addition of the fire escape, city officials said, might have saved lives during the April 11 blaze. However, building inspectors had not required one….” (Washington Post (Patrick Tyler and Art Harris). “Lamont Street Home — Moneymaker for Its Owners.” 4-22-1979.)
July 10, WP: “A federal grand jury is investigating charges of fraud, drug sales and payoffs in drug-addiction testing at two halfway houses operated by the nonprofit Volunteers of America, (VOA), according to sources familiar with the investigation…. The halfway houses are operated by the same Volunteers of America chapter that supervised a home for mental outpatients at 1715 Lamont St. NWSS, where 10 women were killed by the worst fire in the city’s history on April 11.
Sources
Fire Marshals Association of North America. “Life Safety in Boarding Homes…” Fire Marshals Bulletin, September/October, 1985. Accessed at: http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files//PDF/IFMA%20quarterlies/FMANA_Fire_Marshals_Bulletin_September_1985.pdf
National Fire Protection Association (James R. Bell). Halfway House Fire, Washington, D.C., 10 Killed, April 11, 1979. Boston, MA: NFPA, undated, 14 pages.
United States Congress, House of Representatives. Boarding Home Fires: New Jersey (Hearing before the Select Committee on Aging, 97th Congress, 1st Session, March 9, 1981, Keansburg, NJ). Washington, DC: GPO, 1981.
United States Congress, House of Representatives. Boarding Home Fires: The Tip of the Iceberg (Hearing before the Subcommittee on Health and Long Term Care, Select Committee on Aging, 96th Congress, First Session, April 25, 1979). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979.
Washington Post (Patrick Tyler). “Fraud, Drug Sale Charges at Halfway Houses Probed.” 7-10-1979. Accessed 6-29-2017 at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1979/07/10/fraud-drug-sale-charges-at-halfway-houses-probed/36f914ba-2604-4156-bba4-12524bf26ab2/?utm_term=.286006ca10fc
Washington Post (Patrick Tyler and Art Harris). “Lamont Street Home — Moneymaker for Its Owners.” 4-22-1979. Accessed 6-29-2017 at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/04/22/lamont-street-home-moneymaker-for-its-owners/1b015ccc-b495-42c7-bb28-930d77ebe93a/?utm_term=.0e4f1317cf64
[1] There were several “boarding home” and halfway house type fires in the District in early 1979. We speculate that one death from another facility has been included in this figure.
[2] Other sources note ten deaths, including a July 10 Washington Post article. We speculate that one of the burn victims later died, making for a total of ten fatalities.