Elio Diaz was working on one of his trucks on January 19 when he looked across Salem Street and noticed flames emerging from a home.
Diaz then heard a man calling for help in Spanish from a third-story window. The owner of the tow truck business dialed 911 and alerted fire crews about the man trapped in the home as first responders arrived on scene.
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“It was very stressful because you want to help them, but there’s nothing you can do,” Diaz said. “There were flames and sparks. It’s just a very, very dangerous situation.”
Firefighters rescued the resident by using a ladder to access the third-floor window. But when they searched for other occupants in what turned out to be an illegal upstairs apartment, two firefighters got lost as smoke filled the home.
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Diaz watched the frantic moments from across the street and shot video of the rescue on his phone.
“Firefighters might’ve been in the house before and having an apartment that doesn’t below there… it’s probably hard to get in there and do their job,” Diaz said. “It’s really unsafe.”
Lawrence Fire Chief Brian Moriarty knows that situation all too well.
The department’s firefighters made it out safely that day, but the chief said the close call puts the spotlight on the prevalent problem.
“We are finding these all the time,” Moriarty said. “In fact, in the past nine years, I haven’t had a fire at a residential property that hasn’t had an illegal bedroom in the basement, attic or front porch. It’s that big of an issue.”
That is worth repeating. The fire chief says every time his crews respond to a house fire, they find an illegal unit.
In one recent incident in February, firefighters had to break a window to free people from a basement unit without a proper exit.
During our interview, Moriarty ticked off various examples he and other firefighters have discovered.
In one instance, he opened a closet door and found a hidden spiral staircase that led to an illegal basement apartment. In another case, what appeared to be a trap door led to an illegal unit.
“Those aren’t things we are going to find in the pitch black smoke,” Moriarty said.
The NBC10 Investigators teamed up with our colleagues at Telemundo to take a closer look at the problem.
Records we obtained showed dozens of illegal apartment violations over the past few years. Within the inspection reports, photos illustrated the safety concerns and fire hazards of units tucked into nooks and crannies of homes.
Lawrence illegal apartment photos
Inspectors documented kitchens with no ventilation, bedrooms with no egress, disabled smoke detectors, and tangles of wires and extension cords.
“We’re aren’t trying to put people on the sidewalk,” Moriarty said. “We are not trying to cause people grief. What we want is cooperation and safety.”
That would explain something else the documents revealed: none of the violations discovered by city inspectors came with any fines for property owners.
Arleny Almonte, a code inspector in Lawrence, said that is an intentional approach to encourage an open dialogue with property owners.
“We care about their wellbeing,” Almonte said. “We are not a money-making machine.”
Almonte added there is often miseducation and language barriers tied to the illegal units. They want property owners to not be afraid to ask if their apartments are up to standards.
“People are scared to come in and ask the difficult question like, ‘Is this legal? Is this going to be in compliance?’” Almonte said. “We don’t want miseducation to be the cause of you being liable for someone’s life.”
It’s not just an issue that city leaders in Lawrence are grappling with. We also requested illegal apartment violations from other communities.
The results—and record keeping—was a bit mixed, but since the beginning of 2022:
- Lowell reported it has investigated 75 incidents
- Lynn provided records showing 32 complaints
- Chelsea’s inspectional services director said the city doesn’t have a database to track violations, but told us there have been “quite a few”
Those are just the ones city inspectors know about.
After the fire in January when firefighters momentarily became lost inside the house, Moriarty worries about the next time they discover a surprise illegal unit.
“Almost having two fighters…” the chief recalled, momentarily getting choked up. “I don’t want that. That was too close.”
