Another Suit Filed in York LODD Case

The families of two Pennsylvania firefighters who were killed in a building fire in 2018, have filed a wrongful death suit against the building owner and a contractor. York firefighters Ivan Flanscha and Zach Anthony died on March 21, 2018 at a fire in the Weaver Piano Building.

The firefighters died in a collapse that occurred during overhaul operations during the second day of the fire. At least four suits were previously filed against an engineering firm, Carney Engineering Corp, who was accused of assuring the fire department that it was safe for firefighters to enter the building. The families of Flanscha and Anthony, along with two firefighters who survived the collapse, filed separate suits in York County Court of Common Pleas back in 2018.

Channel 21 out of Harrisburg quoted from the complaint as follows:

• “Defendant Weaver had a duty to make sure that they were no fire hazards on the project, that there was a fire safety plan in place for the project, that there was an appropriate fire warning and suppression system in place at the project and that the building was reasonably protected from the initiation and spread of fire.”
• “On the day of the fire the first floor of the building was filled with large amounts of disorganized material, particularly in the south wing of the building.”
• “On the day the fire, large amounts of combustibles and flammable material will being stored on the first floor, to clean the south wing of the building including but not limited to paint, paint thinners, approximately 130 hollow core doors that were either painted or waiting to be painted, wood trim, painted wooden boxes, stacks of lumber, plywood, roofing primer, primer wash and yellow roofing glue, approximately one hundred gallons of polyurethane, diesel fuel, kerosene fuel, gasoline and other waste material.”
• “This accumulation of combustible material and fuel was not stored or contained safely and created an unreasonable risk of fire initiation and fire spread.”

Channel 21 also reported that “This latest lawsuit consolidates the only other active suit in this case against Carney Engineering Corp.”, although there were four separate suits filed. Additional details will be posted here as they become available.

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