Family Sues Bronx Owner for Deadly Kitchen Fire

A family is suing the owner after a kitchen fire sparked by a stove burned the family's 4-year-old girl and killed her older sister. According to court documents, two weeks before the fire, the building superintendent installed a new stove in the family’s fourth-floor apartment. According to the lawsuit, the superintendent positioned the appliance so close to the wall, it crushed the electrical cord, damaging it to the point where it ignited.

The FDNY Bureau of Fire Investigation incident report for the fatal inferno confirms that the oven’s power cord was to blame, listing “Appliance Cord” under cause of fire. The family’s lawsuit additionally faults the landlord for not installing the required kitchen smoke alarm, and for “spoilating the evidence” by dismantling the charred kitchen the day after the fire.