Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Relatives of fire victim looking for answers
Family of Theresa Malloy ‘want to know what happened’ in blaze at senior home that killed 4 residents
PHILADELPHIA » Mary Dimaio is searching for answers.
Her mother, Theresa Malloy, 85, was killed in the Nov. 16 Barclay Friends Home blaze that also took the lives of three other residents.
“We want to know what happened,” Dimaio, 55, said Wednesday from the law offices of Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett and Bendesky, on the 52nd floor at One Liberty Place.
Her two brothers, Gary J. Malloy, 62, and Martin J. Malloy, 58, visited the press conference and also seek answers to what happened at the five-alarm fire that more than 400 first responders fought for several hours on a cold night.
“This can’t happen to anybody else,” Martin Malloy said.
The family’s attorney, Bob Mongeluzzi, said that on Wednesday he inspected the structure, along with two forensic fire safety experts.
While the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been mum about the cause of the fire, Mongeluzzi has a theory.
“We want to know what happened,” the attorney said. “We’re starting a quest for information and justice to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Dimaio described her mother as the daughter of the Irish community, a single mother who raised her children in Oxford Circle.
Malloy worked for the IRS for 25 years and moved to be with a brother in Chester County. When he passed, she took an apartment.
“She was a smart lady, a churchgoing Catholic,” Dimaio said.
Martin Malloy said his mother suffered from the early stages of dementia. She held a very strong faith and instilled those values in her children, he said.
“If you are going to succeed in this world, it’s by your own hand,” he quoted his mother as saying.
A photograph was held high at the press conference, which showed a fully burned trash bin.
The legal team speculated that a lit cigarette, or something else flammable, placed in the bin, sparked the blaze, igniting a Tyvek/ vinyl/board wall of the home where 133 residents were evacuated.
“There’s no evidence that this valve was turned on. If it was off, it would give a complete explanation of why the sprinklers were not working.”
Mongoluzzi said that no wet residents were evacuated
from the building and he surmised that the sprinkler system was non-functional.
He noted that a valve was off when he inspected the premises, Wednesday, but didn’t know if it was turned to the off position prior to the inferno.
“We believe the fire started outside in the metal trash receptacle,” Mongeluzzi said. “There is no account from any firefighters, first responders or residents that the fire system activated.
“The sprinkler system should have worked to activate and extinguish the fire.”
Theresa Malloy had moved to the Quaker home just a month prior to the
blaze.
“Making children face the agonizing choice of how to protect their parents as they age – she didn’t get the protection she deserved,” Mongaluzzi said. “A sprinkler system is there to protect us all.”
Mary said panic grew as family couldn’t account for her mother’s whereabouts.
“Nothing compared to the panic she felt,” Dimaio said about her mother, who was known for her laughter.
The family met with West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn a little more than 14 hours after the fire started.
“You don’t get a call to meet with the police chief and it’s good news,” Dimaio said.