Smoke detectors that failed to sound when a deadly fire erupted in a San Francisco public housing unit in April had been intentionally dismantled and stuffed in a kitchen drawer, according to a private investigation authorized by the San Francisco Housing Authority, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.
The fast-burning fire broke out at 76 Brookdale Ave. in the Sunnydale public housing development on the morning of April 16. It killed Esther Ioane, 32, and her 3-year-old son, Santana Williams. The two were discovered in the bathroom of the burned unit.
The investigation also turned up drug pipes and methamphetamine, and two witnesses who live near the burned unit told the investigators that the residents had disabled the detectors because they were tired of them going off when they smoked drugs, according to Kevin Cholakian , a private attorney representing the Housing Authority.
Seven people were in the unit at the time of the fire, some trapped on the second floor as the flames raged at ground level. Firefighters helped get most of them out alive, including Santana, who was badly burned and later died at San Francisco General Hospital. Two adjacent units were also damaged.
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