Firefighter died in old building with 'iffy' elevator

The apartment building where firefighter Daryl Gordon died Thursday was more than five decades old and showing its age – and the elevator door may have contributed to the tragedy.

City building inspection reports describe a litany of problems at the five-story structure over the past decade, from broken pipes and windows to animals gnawing their way into bathrooms. And residents there said the building's lone elevator was unreliable and many feared using it.

Fire officials say Gordon, 54, died after falling into the elevator shaft at the Kings Tower Apartments in Madisonville.

"A lot of people don't get on the elevator because it is kind of iffy," said Lauren Brown, who lives in the building.

Fire Chief Richard Braun said Gordon was searching for victims of the fire when he came across a door to the elevator. The veteran firefighter fell from the fourth floor to the second floor and was trapped between the elevator car and a wall, according to the firefighters' mayday radio call.

One national elevator safety expert suggested in an interview with The Enquirer that something may have been wrong with the elevator door's locking system, allowing it to be opened even though the elevator car was stopped on a different floor.

The Boston-based owner, The Community Builders Inc., bought the 38-unit apartment building at 6020 Dahlgren out of foreclosure in late 2012 as part of a nationwide acquisition of properties, many of them in poor shape. The company, which is leading a $25 million redevelopment project in Avondale, owns 11,000 apartments across the country, including 1,300 in Cincinnati.

A spokeswoman for the company said it spent $750,000 in the past year to clean up the place and fix safety problems. She said the company is not aware of any recent fire or safety violations and said the elevator was inspected and serviced in February. The Enquirer has requested fire inspection reports from the city, but those have not yet been made available.

"We are committed to the safety of all our properties," said Stephanie Anderson Garrett, the spokeswoman for The Community Builders. "We have worked diligently to improve the quality of housing for our residents."

Along with their fire investigation, city and fire officials said they are investigating the elevator and how Gordon fell into the shaft.

Several residents said Thursday that Gordon might have been confused by the elevators because they require users to open a door before reaching the sliding doors to the elevator. In the frantic search for residents in trouble, Brown said, Gordon might have thought the elevator door was an apartment door.

"He probably thought it was an apartment or maybe somebody was in there and didn't know it was actually an elevator," she said.

National elevator safety expert Kevin Doherty told The Enquirer it could have been difficult for Gordon to differentiate the outer elevator door from the front door of an apartment. But that should not have mattered. The steel elevator door has an interlock system that's nearly impossible to open – unless the lock wasn't working properly, said Doherty, who has been inspecting elevators and escalators for 35 years.

"He could've put his ax through that door, but it still would not have opened," said Doherty, who runs the New York-based elevator consulting firm Kevin J. Doherty & Associates. "Without knowing more about the incident, it sounds as though the firefighter pulled on the door; the door opened and the elevator was not at the landing. It's not supposed to open at all unless the elevator is there. That interlock may have failed."

Enquirer archives describe a fire in a building elevator in 1995 that caused $60,000 in damage. Residents were evacuated, and smoke sent one woman to the hospital. No one was seriously hurt.

Garrett said many of the buildings The Community Builders acquired in 2012, including the one at 6020 Dahlgren, had years of deferred maintenance and other problems. All of the apartments at 6020 Dahlgren are government-subsidized housing.

Building inspection reports show at least two violations since Community Builders took over, one for trash on the property and another because water was shut off for at least four days.

Other violations go back to 2004 and include complaints about trash, illegal dumping, broken pipes and windows, crumbling retaining walls and animals chewing through holes in bathroom ceilings.

Community Builders, the nation's largest nonprofit developer of mixed-used housing, has had other problems with its properties in Cincinnati. In November, the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio threatened legal action against Community Builders because of 15 building-code violations in Avondale, Over-the-Rhine and Walnut Hills. The lack of smoke detectors were among the violations.