Jan. 09--PROVIDENCE, RI-- A city inspector issued an intent to condemn the Bowdoin Street building destroyed in Saturday morning's fire just three days before the deadly blaze.
Inspector Bill Monaco went to the home after a resident complained through the city's 311 application Jan. 2, according to the mayor's office. Monaco notes in his report there was "no heat, no running water," and that the "House was a mess," when he visited 110 Bowdoin St. in Olneyville on Jan. 3.
Monaco spoke to Dexter Jackson, the landlord, during the visit and "walked him through the condemnation process," Victor Morente, a spokesman for Mayor Jorge Elorza, said. Jackson did not return multiple calls and emails requesting comment Monday.
Jackson was renting out single rooms and "operating a boarding house," according to the report. Jackson paid an owner-occupied tax rate and, according to records, lived in the building.
"Occupants were running space heaters, numerous propane torches throughout the dwelling," Monaco wrote in the report. Tenants were complaining of constant electrical issues and frozen pipes and there was an open electrical panel in the basement, according to the report.
Monaco said residents tried to contact the Red Cross for help, but one man living on the third floor told him: "they would not help unless there was a fire."
Monaco noted that his office was closed on Thursday because of the storm, but said he would write the report on Monday.
By then the building was gone -- reduced to ash and rubble. Firefighters pulled human remains from the land where the house once stood Monday, Public Safety Commissioner Steven Paré confirmed. A woman has been missing since Saturday, Paré said.
Neighbors said a woman in her 30s lived at 110 Bowdoin St. and had not been heard from. Paré said investigators were awaiting identification from the medical examiner's office.
The fire started at about 3 a.m. Saturday and by the time crews arrived on scene it was burning through three triple-decker apartment houses. Nine people were injured, including two firefighters. All of those injuries were considered non-life-threatening. The two buildings beside 110 Bowdoin St. are heavily damaged, and stand without roofs. Icicles hang from the fire escapes.
Jackson has owned the building since 2010, according to property records. In that time he violated building codes at least 28 times, according to records from the Department of Inspection and Standards.
Over the last nine years, inspectors have reported no heat, water, or electricity in the building several times, and asked Jackson to rid the property of insects and rodents on at least two occasions.
In April 2015, the city issued an emergency notice calling the building "unfit for human occupancy" because it didn't comply with the state's Lead Hazard Mitigation Act.
Victor Morente, a spokesman for the mayor's office, said the city is "looking into other complaints associated to property owned by Dexter Jackson."
Another property owned by Jackson, at 708 Atwells Ave., was condemned in June.
Firefighters faced whipping winds and single-digit temperatures as they battled the blaze on Saturday. By 8 a.m., when the fire was brought under control, the building at 110 Bowdoin St. was burned to the ground.
On Monday, a portion of Bowdoin Street was cordoned off with emergency tape. Firefighters wearing "Arson Squad" waded through piles of burned belongings.
Neighbors stood in the street watching silently as a crane scooped up an air-conditioning unit, tires, and a piece of pink fabric.
This is the second fatal fire on Bowdoin Street in recent memory. In December 2012, a home at 88 Bowdoin St. went up in flames, killing a 10-month-old baby girl.
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