Sworn statements filed in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of fire victim Steven Summers against Portland landlord Gregory Nisbet this week revealed tragic details about the Nov. 1 fire that killed six people and prompted Portland officials to review the city’s fire safety inspection process.
The affidavits indicate that multiple witnesses did not hear smoke alarms on the night of the fire and that the alarm clock of resident Nathan Long was the only notice that allowed him to escape the building’s second floor with resident Kyle Bozeman and a guest at the house, Paul Garrido.
Garrido, had traveled to Portland with Steven Summers to visit David Bragdon Jr., in part for a Halloween party. Both Summers and Bragdon were staying on the building’s second floor. Bragdon died in the fire and Summers died four days later from injuries.
Garrido, who slept on a first-floor couch, wrote that he awoke to Long yelling “fire” from the second floor.
Garrido said he then ran to the second floor.
He said he did not hear any fire alarms during the blaze.
On the second floor, he found Long and Bozeman in the hallway and followed Long out a window in Bozeman’s bedroom, located at the back of the house. All three jumped to safety from a roof over the back porch. It was there Garrido said he saw Summers badly burnt.
Summers was eventually taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, with burns to most of his body. He died four days later.
Nisbet’s attorney, John Veilleux, told the Bangor Daily News on Friday that “our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the fire victims” and declined to comment on the lawsuit.
At issue in the case is whether Nisbet was negligent in maintaining the property to national fire safety standards adopted by the city.
Shanna Fratini, a past tenant at the property and an acquaintance of people who died in the Nov. 1 fire, and other residents testified that they had previously attempted to contact Nesbit about making repairs — including exposed wiring — and were unsuccessful.
Long, who escaped from the blaze, told an attorney representing Summers’ family that the tenants did not have a lease with Nisbet and that he was a lenient landlord.
In requesting a lien against Nisbet’s properties, attorneys for Summers found that at the time of the fire, the building was in foreclosure, with more than $300,000 remaining unpaid on the mortgage.
David Weyrens, a colleague of Summers’ attorney Thomas Hallett, testified that he and a private investigator found that Nisbet had not paid the mortgage since 2011 and during that time continued to collect rent payments on the property.
In the liens secured this week, attorneys for Summers’ family estimated total damages in that case alone at more than $2 million. Factoring in a liability insurance policy of $300,000 on the property, they sought and received liens in the amount of $1.7 million.
Review the affidavits and motions filed so far in the case: