Officials say vagrant's candles caused fired

The cause of a two-alarm fire at 4423 Spruce Street last week is making area residents see red. Secretary to the Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Josie Webster said the fire was started last Thursday on the second floor of the abandoned building by a squatter. The 52-year-old man, who was staying illegally in the four-story brick building, had "open flame candles" that ignited the blaze, she added. The man was transported to St. Agnes Burn Center with second degree burns to his face, head and hands, Webster said. Sean McCloskey of the Penn Real Estate Group said community members signed petitions and wrote letters before the fire to get the city's License and Inspections Department to demolish the building. "The fire should have never happened," McCloskey said. "The city was clearly culpable." He added that the building was structurally unsound and inhabited by other squatters. License and Inspections Department spokesperson Tom McNally said the building, owned by Farrokh Setuden of Chester, was declared "imminently dangerous" in the fall of 1993. McNally said the designation forces the owner to repair the building or have it demolished by the city because the structure is in danger of collapse. On Sept. 2, 1993, Setuden was granted permission to rebuild the side wall of the building, he said. After the construction was completed, the building was no longer in danger of collapse, McNally added. "We determined the repair to be acceptable to department standards," he said. "We felt the owner took action to make the building safe. "We gave this owner due process," he added. McCloskey disagreed. "The portion of the wall that had been rebuilt by the owners was built on top of a wall that was bowing out and was structurally unsound," he said. "It was so weak that fire hoses knocked that portion of the wall down. At all times the building was 'imminently dangerous.'" The License and Inspection Department requested that Setuden properly seal the building off to trespassers in October 1993, McNally said. Still, Vsamy Naiken, a local resident, said he had seen a squatter entering the building 10 days before the fire. Naiken, who saw flames in the building and called the fire department last Thursday, said squatters would sometimes enter the building through the front door. The building was completely gutted by the fire with only the brick walls left standing. McNally said the building was not salvageable and demolition began last Friday at a cost of $72,600. He added that Setuden would be billed for the demolition and a lien was taken out on the property by the city. "We move pretty swiftly after a fire," McNally said. "As soon as the fire is out, we make a determination [about the building's safety]."