Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
The father of a 6-year-old girl who was killed in a fire last year, has filed suit against the landlord, the local fire department, and a chief officer. The suit alleges the local volunteer fire department failed to call a nearby career department.
Taylor Mishlanie and her mother, Heather Mishlanie, died on January 18, 2018. Christopher Mishlanie, who is Taylor’s father and Heather’s ex-husband, filed suit in Oneida County Supreme Court naming the building’s landlord Christopher Mineo, the village of Yorkville, the Yorkville Fire Department and Nicholas Morosco, Yorkville’s first assistant fire chief.
The suit follows a suit filed February 7, 2018 by Christopher Mishlanie naming the Hartford Fire Department, New York Mills Fire and Police Departments, Maynard Fire Department, Willowvale Fire Department, Whitestown Police Department, Oneida County 911, Westmoreland Fire Department, Yorkville Fire and Police Departments, and Whitesboro Fire and Police Departments. Copies of the complaints for either suit are not available, but it would appear likely the 2018 suit was aimed at preserving access to evidence Mishlanie’s attorneys deemed relevant to their investigation.
According to the Observer-Dispatch, the most recently filed suit accuses Mineo of failing to address various codes issues with the apartment and blames the fire department for not requesting assistance from the Utica Fire Department, who had a station less than 2 miles from the scene. This map shows the relative location of the fire stations to the scene.
