Five teams of inspectors from the District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs fanned out along a block just east of the campus. Students allowed them into the rowhouses despite notices posted by some of the owners warning that if DCRA employees came to the door, ``DO NOT LET THEM IN THE HOUSE.''
``We found several significant violations of housing code where, basically, some of the basements are uninhabitable for safety reasons and we're going to have to work with the university to move the kids out,'' said DCRA Director David A. Clark. Electrical, plumbing and other safety violations were found, Clark said. In one case, a window had bars and locks on the outside, making it useless in the event of a fire.
Daniel Rigby, 21, died in Sunday's blaze inside one of the old rowhouses. Rigby, of River Edge, N.J., was a senior in Georgetown's business school. Investigators blame faulty electrical wiring for the blaze.
``You have 21st century demand for electricity on infrastructure that's 100 years old. The infrastructure cannot support that demand for electricity, and you have overloaded circuitry that just explodes,'' said Alan Etter, spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department.
The university partnered with DCRA last spring to educate students about identifying safety hazards in their rental properties, university spokeswoman Laura Cavender said. She said the university will help students who have been displaced.
``If some students indicate that they want to leave rental properties, we do have some spaces that are available on campus,'' Cavender said.
Clark said he was not surprised students were willing to live in substandard conditions.
``A lot of them are willing to accept lesser circumstances than someone who's paying a lot for rent,'' he said.
