Elevator where firefighter died cited many times
City inspectors have repeatedly cited the elevator in the Madisonville apartment building where a Cincinnati firefighter on Thursday fell to his death with violations -- including during its most recent inspection.
The specifics of the violation from the November inspection aren't entirely clear, and a big question remains after the city on Friday released several documents about the five-floor apartment building: What went wrong with the elevator door?
City officials say that's part of an ongoing investigation into the death of veteran firefighter Daryl Gordon, who died from injuries sustained after he fell two floors in the elevator shaft of the building at 6020 Dahlgren Street. The investigation could take up to a year. There are three simultaneous investigations going on:
• What caused the fire.
• An internal review of how the fire was handled.
• A federal investigation by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
An elevator safety expert told The Enquirer on Thursday the door to the elevator should not have been open – or would have been extremely difficult to open – without the elevator car being on the fourth floor, where Gordon entered the elevator shaft. The elevator car was located on the second floor, and Gordon was found wedged between the elevator car and a wall, according to firefighters' radio reports.
Residents of the building – part of the Kings Towers apartment complex – said the elevator was unreliable and many feared using it. The elevator was inspected and serviced in February and the building had passed recent safety inspections, according to officials for the building's Boston-based owner, The Community Builders Inc.
City officials released the records at 2:17 p.m. Friday, including 10 reports on the building's lone elevator, dating to November 2010. City elevator inspectors were not around to answer questions.
Seven of the elevator reports included violations, but none cited problems with the elevator's doors. In the Nov. 25 inspection, the city inspector's only comment was to "properly clean the pit area." Violation reports in 2011 and 2012 each cited that the elevator needed to undergo an annual safety test.
"There were no (full inspection) failures," city spokesman Rocky Merz said.
City records also revealed another possible problem with the building. The routine fire inspection on the building was six months overdue, according to records.
The fire department last inspected the building in September 2013 – and fire inspections are supposed to be done annually on every apartment building located in the city. The 2013 inspection found no violations. Fire doors and windows checked out, as did the alarm system and smoke detectors, according to city records.
The fire inspection included the elevator area, but made no specific mention about the elevator doors.
The city released fire, building and elevator inspections and police reports. Here is what an Enquirer analysis of the other records shows:
• The police data includes all four buildings in the complex. Some 108 crimes occurred there over 10 years, or 10.8 per year or less than one per month. Over that decade (starting in 2005), most of the crimes were domestic violence or drug-related.
• From July 14, 2008 to March 21, 2015, there were 39 runs for false alarms and nine for "stuck," which the city could not explain. The runs were for such things like "fire advised," "ambulance transported" and "EMS disregard."
Fire Chief Richard Braun spoke Friday from Engine 14 in Downtown, where Gordon spent almost 25 years.
"What we do is extremely dangerous," Braun said. "We are very good at what we do. Every time we go out to a fire we put our lives in danger."
He added: "Every time there is a first alarm, my throat goes in my heart. I know what firefighters go through. You can do everything right and still things go wrong."