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Families of firefighters killed in Stricker Street blaze sue city, allege negligence

The site of a vacant home that burned and collapsed in the 200 block of South Stricker Street in January 2022, killing three Baltimore firefighters. (Justin Fenton/The Baltimore Banner)
Justin Fenton
/
The Baltimore Banner
The site of a vacant home that burned and collapsed in the 200 block of South Stricker Street in January 2022, killing three Baltimore firefighters.

The families of three firefighters who died in a blaze at a vacant home on Stricker Street two years ago are suing the city, saying officials were negligent for not cataloging dangerous and structurally unsound buildings.

The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Maryland, accused the Baltimore Mayor’s Office and City Council of failing to follow through on a promise from 2010 to maintain and mark buildings that were unsafe, so firefighters wouldn’t be inside of structures deemed likely to collapse.

“It was an intentional and egregious pattern of conduct, committed over more than ten years, with such conscience-shocking deliberate indifference to the Plaintiff’s constitutional rights as to infer the City’s intention to harm the plaintiffs,” attorneys Allen E. Honick and Dustin Furman wrote in the lawsuit.

The suit is being brought by the families of Lt. Kelsey Sadler, Lt. Paul Butrim, and EMT/firefighter Kenny Lacayo, who died in the Jan. 24, 2022, fire, as well as EMT/firefighter John McMaster, who was injured.

The story continues at The Baltimore Banner: Families of firefighters killed in Stricker Street blaze sue city, allege negligence

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