Estates of 2 killed in Riverhead house fire sue landlady, town
Cindy Cichanowicz, of Peconic, places a rose at scene of deadly fire at East Second Street in Riverhead on Nov. 18, 2021. Five members of an extended family were killed Nov. 16, in a late-night fire that tore through a century-old Victorian house and the estates of two of the victims are suing the town and the landlady of the home. Credit: James Carbone
The estates of two members of an extended family killed in 2021 while trying to flee a burning Victorian house in Riverhead are suing the landlady and the town, claiming that faulty or missing smoke detectors, fire alarms, sprinklers and no proper means of escape are to blame for the deaths.
A lit cigarette was the cause of the fire, the Suffolk County Police Department’s press office said Tuesday.
The suit, filed Feb. 8 at State Supreme Court in Suffolk County, seeks unspecified money damages.
The Nov. 16, 2021, blaze killed five people.
The suit claims the landlady, listed in court papers as Carmeta Cannella of Center Moriches, failed to maintain or install any of the listed safety equipment or ensure the tenants’ third-floor apartment could be escaped in an emergency. She also is accused of failing to address town violations and not keeping the premises from deteriorating into a dangerous place to live.
“The fire and smoke alarms either did not operate, or exist so as to timely and sufficiently warn the occupants of the 3rd floor apartment of a pending fire,” the suit says.
The town is also listed as a defendant because it had allegedly failed to enforce summonses and citations issued after having inspected the house. The lawsuit alleges the town found violations covering insufficient or missing smoke detection equipment and means of egress.
Cannella couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. A message left with the town supervisor wasn’t immediately returned.
The fire took place about 10:30 p.m. at the three-story house at 46 E. Second St., which was more than a century old. A mother, son, daughter and two nephews were killed.
Early in the investigation, the head of the county police homicide squad said there was no indication of smoke alarms in the building. The cause was believed to be accidental and noncriminal. There were 10 people total in the house — the five who were living on the first two floors were able to escape.
The plaintiffs are Jason Hernandez, who was appointed administrator of victim Zonia Dinora Rivera Mendoza’s estate, and Matthew Kiernan, the county public administrator who is handling victim Carlos Alberto Ramos Aguirre’s estate.
Hernandez was the husband of victim Rivera Mendoza. He is suing both on behalf of the estate and himself, said attorney Steven Ferber of Islandia, whose firm is representing the plaintiffs. Hernandez wasn’t home at the time of the fire.
Kiernan was appointed administrator of the Ramos Aguirre estate because no local kin is able to fulfill the role, Ferber said.
The lawsuit says that the two victims whose estates are suing were survived by people “who were dependent upon [them] for their economic support,” and that the families “incurred funeral expenses, loss of fraternal care, loss of love and guidance of the decedent, loss of the value of [their] estate[s], and other pecuniary losses.”
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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