BALTIMORE — The families of three Baltimore firefighters killed in a burning vacant home collapse are expected to file a multi-million dollar wrongful death lawsuit against the city and State of Maryland.
On Wednesday Miler Stern Lawyers LLC made official notifications of their intent to sue over the deadly January fire on Stricker Street.
The fire claimed the lives of Paul Butrim, Kelsey Sadler and Kenneth Lacayo, and also badly injured firefighter John McMaster.
Attorneys accuse the City and State of negligence, claiming the incident "could have and should have been prevented."
"This is something that should have never occurred... it could have been prevented and more importantly the city had the resources and programs available to protect our public servants from this very thing from happening," said attorney Kevin Stern.
In their letter lawyers highlight the city's failure to demolish or properly secure the vacant home, which also caught fire years prior to the fatal collapse.
They also mention the city's decision to discontinue the Code X-Ray program, that would have made crews aware of unsafe buildings.
"We want to affect change, we want our firefighters to be safer, and again this house should have never been standing. There is public record showing that it should have been demolished years ago, firefighters were injured here before and we're going to keep fighting for change so that people are safe," said Lacey Marino, Sadler's sister.
RELATED: Longtime Baltimore City Fire Chief resigns in light of report into deadly Stricker Street fire
Legal action comes days after the release of a 314 page investigative report into the fire that was highly critical of the city and fire department.
The report led to the resignation of longtime fire chief Niles Ford.
"I don't know if anything will help, we're never going to get her back, any of them, but it's going to save other families from having to deal with it later because it's never going to stop, these buildings are going to keep falling down and they're going to keep catching on fire and nobody is going to know," said Brandon Sadler, Kelsey's husband.
We reached out to the City for a response, they had no comment.
