April 24--The family of one of four people who died in a 2013 apartment fire in Emmaus has filed the first lawsuit in connection with the blaze, claiming the owners of the building neglected to provide enough smoke and fire detectors for their tenants.
Anthony Adamo, whose sister Lena Maria Adamo died in the fire, filed a wrongful death complaint in Lehigh County Court against Michael and Loretta Boyko, the owners of 36-38 S. Fifth St., an apartment building destroyed by the March 16, 2013, blaze.
The suit alleges negligence and seeks unspecified monetary damages.
The complaint, filed by Bethlehem attorney Christopher M. Reid, claims the Boykos, who live in Macungie, did not install enough working smoke detectors in the building and failed to inspect the smoke detectors that were in the building.
It says there were no smoke detectors in the bedrooms of the second-floor apartment where Lena Marie Adamo died.
The Boykos' attorney did not return a phone message seeking comment.
Lena Marie Adamo, 56, was among four people who died as a result of the flames and smoke that spread quickly through the building. The others were Melissa A. Twining, 48; Twining's son, Montana Twining, 16; and Twining's boyfriend, David Jenkins Jr., 65.
The estates of Twining and her son have filed court papers indicating that they plan to sue.
The Lehigh County coroner's office said the four died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries and that the manner of death was accidental.
Investigators said the fire began in a rear third-floor bedroom and the attic space above it.
Following the fire, borough staff said it had no permits on file for residents in the building. A borough ordinance requires landlords to provide the names and addresses of new tenants and vacating tenants within 10 days of the tenants moving in or out of the building.
That notification triggers an inspection of the apartment by the borough. It's not known when the last borough inspection of the building took place. The building was, however, inspected by the Lehigh County Housing Authority because the property was part of the county's Section 8 housing assistance program.
Multiple inspections took place at the building between 2004 and 2012, with the most recent occurring at Twining's apartment in August 2012, according to records obtained by The Morning Call. The apartment passed that inspection, records show.
The complaint says the Boykos, who own numerous rental properties in the Lehigh Valley, were obligated to provide a safe environment at the building, which had five apartments.
It claims, among other things, that the building: lacked working fire alarms in the area where the fire originated; lacked fire detectors in the bedrooms of the Adamo apartment; lacked smoke detectors on the ceiling or wall in the hall outside each apartment; lacked operative fire escapes; and was not properly and routinely inspected.
The suit also says that the Boykos did not get "move-in" permits for tenants.
The suit filed by Anthony Adamo, the administrator of Lena Marie Adamo's estate, says she was in her second-floor apartment at 38 S. Fifth St. that day with Bobby Taylor, with whom she shared the apartment. Investigators say the fire started in the third floor of 36 S. Fifth St.
The Twinings and Jenkins were on the third floor of 36 S. Fifth St., investigators said.
The suit says Taylor exited the building through a second-floor window when he heard an explosion and saw black smoke. It says Lena Marie Adamo was on her way to a bathroom to get dressed and never made it out of the building.
"Lena Marie Adamo did not recognize the seriousness of the situation," the suit says. "She entered the bathroom intending to dress herself before escaping; however she never made it out."
The suit says Adamo collapsed between a toilet and sink cabinet.
The house was at one time a three-story funeral home before it was converted into apartments nearly three decades ago.
The suit seeks damages for Adamo's survivors, including her brother Anthony Adamo, of Zionsville; her mother, Mildred Adamo of Fair Lawn, N.J.; her brother, Joseph Adamo of Nevada; her sister, Susan Streaser of Glen Rock, N.J.; and her sister, Adrianne Adamo, of Brielle, N.J.
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