Father Of Fire Victim Sues City, Apartment Landlord Wrongful Death Suit Says Building Owners Knew Of Code Violations

Two years ago, Kimberly Parfrey died after a fire swept through her fiance’s apartment.

On Monday, her father filed a lawsuit against the city of Coeur d’Alene and the apartment landlord, claiming her death could have been prevented.

“It was a tragic and unnecessary loss of life,” said Harvey Richman, attorney for Parfrey’s family.

Parfrey died March 29, 1993, after flames torched Troy Balascio’s apartment at 621 Lakeside Ave. where she had been visiting.

Firefighters found the 35-year-old woman pressed against the door of the third-story apartment. She died later that night from smoke inhalation.

Parfrey’s father, Clyde Wells, filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of Parfrey’s 8-year-old son, Christopher. He is suing the city and the building’s owners, Sidney G. Goodwin and Le Ann Anderson.

According to the lawsuit, Goodwin and Anderson knew, or should have known, that their building had multiple violations of building, zoning and fire regulations.

The smoke detector inside the apartment was not working, the stairway to the third floor was narrower than required and there was no second exit from the floor, Richman said.

Richman said the apartment operators had signed an agreement with the city of Coeur d’Alene promising not to rent out the third story of the building in which the fire started.

They still rented the building out, and the city did not stop them, the suit alleges.

Police and fire investigators referred questions to city attorney Jeff Jones, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Goodwin had not been notified about the suit as of Wednesday evening and declined to comment.

Code violation records from the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department and Coeur d’Alene Building Department also were not available Wednesday.

A short circuit in some of the apartment’s wiring started the fire, said Deputy State Fire Marshal Glenn Lauper. The wires apparently short-circuited because they had been improperly spliced.

Richman said the apartment landlord placed a faulty heater in the third story apartment. The heater could not be shut off, so a window had to be left open to cool the apartment.

Richman said the open window created a “chimney effect” that caused the March 1993 fire to ignite and spread quickly, contributing to Parfrey’s death.